HURT-PRONE INDIAN SENSITIVENESS !
In a mostly non-vegetarian land, good governance can’t be food governance
The ban on sale and slaughter of mutton by BJP-ruled states during the Jain festival of Paryushan to ostensibly protect the sentiments of the Jain community, raises the question of whether governments exist to protect sentiments. If the state can ban slaughter of mutton, is this one step away from banning azaan in mosques because ‘sentiments of Hindus’ are being hurt, or banning Durga Puja celebrations because ‘sentiments of iconoclasts’ are being hurt, or banning the sale of alcohol because ‘sentiments of teetotallers’ are being hurt?
Just as it was not the government’s job to ban Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, or to ban the play Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy, protecting culture or protecting sentiments is not the state’s mandate. Governments exist to uphold constitutionally provided legal rights, not to take stances based on cultural mores of particular groups. Articles 14, 19 and 21 guarantee freedom of choice.
In a mostly non-vegetarian land, good governance can’t be food governance
The ban on sale and slaughter of mutton by BJP-ruled states during the Jain festival of Paryushan to ostensibly protect the sentiments of the Jain community, raises the question of whether governments exist to protect sentiments. If the state can ban slaughter of mutton, is this one step away from banning azaan in mosques because ‘sentiments of Hindus’ are being hurt, or banning Durga Puja celebrations because ‘sentiments of iconoclasts’ are being hurt, or banning the sale of alcohol because ‘sentiments of teetotallers’ are being hurt?
Just as it was not the government’s job to ban Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, or to ban the play Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy, protecting culture or protecting sentiments is not the state’s mandate. Governments exist to uphold constitutionally provided legal rights, not to take stances based on cultural mores of particular groups. Articles 14, 19 and 21 guarantee freedom of choice.
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