New Delhi:

An editorial in a newspaper on the ban on non-vegetarian food in Gujarat’s Palitana has prompted a sharp response from a BJP MP, who has accused the daily of trying to pit one minority community against another and demanded an apology. 

In a strongly worded letter to the editor of Deccan Herald, Rajya Sabha MP Lahar Singh Siroya said, “I am surprised that your newspaper is advocating the cause of one big-numbered minority community over another small-numbered minority community. What you are doing is also majoritarianism in our eyes. Do the Jains not have the simple right to practice their faith and beliefs of non-violence in their own holy town?”

In its editorial, titled ‘Meat ban disregards majority food culture’, Deccan Herald commented on the ban on selling or consuming non-vegetarian food in Palitana, a prominent Jain pilgrimage site, and said that it was imposed at the behest of the community. 

Noting that places like Kurukshetra in Haryana and Haridwar in Uttarakhand have also placed restrictions on non-vegetarian restaurants and the open sale of meat, fish and eggs, it said, “These bans disproportionately impact the Muslim community, which supplies meat and poultry, and the majority population, which consumes non-vegetarian food. It is worth noting that Jains abstain from onions, potatoes, and all root vegetables, while Muslims do not eat pork… Food is inherently a personal choice, and imposing one’s dietary preferences on others is fundamentally unfair. Everyone should have the freedom to choose their food.”

“Such political high-handedness disregards the dietary practices of a vast majority of people, including Muslims, Christians, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and OBCs, who, generally speaking, consume non-vegetarian food. Many upper-caste communities like Bhumihars and Rajputs include non-vegetarian items in their daily diet,” the editorial added. 

Accusing the newspaper of explicitly targeting Jain culture and one its holiest pilgrimage centres, Mr Siroya, who is an MP from Karnataka, said the Muslim community has “greatly respected” Jain saints and sentiments. 

“We have lived in harmony. A newspaper should not attempt to create discord between the two communities to prove its misplaced liberalism. Again, Palitana is a small town and not a city as you misrepresent to your readers, to deliberately make the problem look and sound big,” he wrote. 

“I have been a reader of the Deccan Herald for decades and have great respect for its noble founders. But I feel with this editorial the newspaper has tried to do something that it usually stays away from play one minority community against another minority community. I strongly protest this attitude and the least I will expect from you is an honest apology. You have hurt my sentiments and that of my community,” the MP added. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gurugram:

Muslims living and working in Haryana’s Gurugram apparently continue to be the target of hate crimes, after posters threatening the residents of a slum in Sector 69A of the ‘mega city’ were put up on Sunday night. A majority of the residents of this slum are Muslims.

There were also posters specifically targeting Muslim women and these come days after a mazar in a Gurugram village was set on fire in the tension after communal clashes in neighbouring Nuh district.

The posters – which also demanding the slum dwellers leave the hovels they call home – read – “Slum dwellers… you need to vacate homes by August 28 and leave… otherwise you may have to face bad consequences. If you want to save your honour… you have 2 days…”

Local police removed the posters and filed a case, but not before panic and fear spread in the community. “We have removed the posters and started investigating the matter,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Manoj Kumar told NDTV. He also declared the slums are “illegal”.

So far the police have not made any arrests and have not been able to identify those responsible.

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The slum may be an illegal construction but the people who call it home have lived there for years, with many – especially the women – working as domestic help in nearby high-rise apartment complexes. And, understandably, many are terrified after the posters emerged.

“We are more afraid for our children. When my husband and I go to work… the children are here alone. We had gone to the village after the riots but now, these posters have come up,” one woman told NDTV, while another said, “We are scared… have lived here for many years.”

Both women were so frightened the requested their names be withheld.

After the violence in Nuh in July – in which six people were killed – parts of Gurugram are on edge, particularly amid reports of attacks on Muslim shopkeepers. The fear has already led many families to flee from and those who have stayed on so far – like those in the Sector 69A slum – are now nervous.