Meat shop owners and labourers said they will comply with the ban out of fear. The shop licences are due for renewal this month. Failing to comply with the ban might mean losing the licences.
Muhammad Raafi | TwoCircles.net
NEW DELHI — Several meat sellers in the national capital New Delhi expressed fear and trepidation over the purported ban on the selling of meat amid the ongoing Navrati festival.
On April 4, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Mayor Mukesh Suryan wrote a letter proposing a purported ban on selling meat during the ongoing Navratri festival.
Suryaan demanded the closure of meat shops and a ban on the sale of meat during Navratri till April 11. Later, he issued a statement to news-gathering agency ANI which was widely reported in newspapers across Delhi. “During Navaratri days, people visit temples to pay their respect to the Goddess and to seek blessings for themselves and their families. These days, people forgo even the use of onion and garlic in their diets and the sight of meat being sold in open or near temples makes them uncomfortable. Their religious belief and sentiments are also affected when they come across meat shops or when they have to bear with the foul smell of the meat on their way to offer their daily prayers to the Goddess. Moreover, some meat shops dump waste in gutters or beside the road, which the stray dogs feed on,” the letter read.
The next day, a majority of the meat sellers at the INA market shut down. It was an unusual scene at the vibrant market.
Most of the customers at the INA market are foreigners who work in the embassies. “Not just foreigners but our customer base includes people from all religions,” Kishan Kumar, a meat seller said.
On April 6, although the majority of the meat shops opened, there was visible anxiety and fear on the faces of meat sellers.
The Mayor’s statement had a wide impact on meat sellers in the capital city. Many meat shop owners in south Delhi said that they witnessed a significant footfall of customers.
“It certainly has sent a wave of fear, particularly among the Muslim vendors,” Abdul Haq, who runs a meat shop in Saket, told TwoCircles.net.
Although Haq said that there hasn’t been any official order from the government, the fear persists. “And who knows they will issue the order any moment,” he said.
Most meat vendors fear incurring heavy losses if the government bans mean selling till 11 April. “We will lose lacs of rupees if the ban is imposed,” Kumar said.
Never has any government imposed a ban on the sale of meat in the past, the meat vendors said.
Haq said that his family was into the business decades before the independence of India and they have never had to face any such orders or bans.
Similarly, Kumar said that he has been working in the INA market for over three decades and he has never seen the market shut.
Many meat vendors said that the Mayor of South Delhi was raking up the issue ahead of the MCD (Municipal Corporation Delhi) elections. “Why is the Mayor raking up the issue now,” he said.
“All this is being done to create unnecessary issues for MCD elections. Meat has been sold across the country during Hindu festivals for decades, why has there not been a problem so far? Never has an order like this been issued in the past that I remember,” he said.
All for politics
A meat seller in a south Delhi market, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told TwoCircles.net that “all this is politics”.
“The workers in the meat shops might lose their wages for a week. Most are daily wage workers, living on what they earn that day. Both Hindus and Muslims work in these shops,” he said.
Suryaan told the media that only those meat shops who agreed to halt operations during Navratri would be given licences.
Meat shop owners and labourers have said they will comply with the ban out of fear. The shop licences are due for renewal this month. Failing to comply with the ban might mean losing the licences.
Krishan Kumar, a meat seller in South Delhi’s INA market said that as soon as he came to know about the letter he was scared.
“Then followed the TV channel reports detailing how a person found selling meat would be levied with heavy fines and how the licences of their shops will be cancelled,” Kumar said.
While Suryan has vowed to “strictly enforce” the meat ban, Congress South Delhi councillor Abhishek Dutt pointed out that the mayor did not have the power to enforce such decisions. “He could only make recommendations to the councillor,” Dutt said.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which runs the government in New Delhi has said that the ban is futile. The party’s in-charge of municipal affairs said that the ban was futile so long as the meat was sold in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Muhammad Raafi is a journalist based in New Delhi. He tweets at @MohammadRaafi