NCP questions closure of meat shops on Aug 15; BJP says ban as per 1988 order

Mumbai: At least five civic bodies in Maharashtra have ordered meat shops to remain shut on August 15, prompting the Ajit Pawar-led NCP to question the ban, while ruling ally BJP defended it, citing a 1988 state government order empowering these bodies to impose such restrictions.

Municipal corporations in Nagpur, Nashik, Malegaon, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Kalyan-Dombivli have issued similar orders.

The BJP on Wednesday said the policy to keep abattoirs shut on Independence Day was first implemented in 1988 when NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar was the chief minister of Maharashtra, and sought to know if the opposition would question the veteran politician about it.

Maharashtra BJP's chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye posed this question to NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad and Shiv Sena (UBT) legislator Aaditya Thackeray amid a row over the decision by some civic bodies in the state.

Upadhye said the policy to keep abattoirs shut on August 15 was originally framed by the Congress government then led by Shankarrao Chavan.

"Within a month in 1988, Sharad Pawar became the chief minister and implemented the policy for the first time," he said.

During the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, in which both Awhad and Thackeray were ministers, the same practice continued without any protest from them, he claimed.

The MVA, in which the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), undivided NCP and Congress shared power, ruled the state from November 2019 till its collapse in June 2022.

"Will they seek a response from Sharad Pawar for taking such a decision back then? Will they criticise him too? Awhad and Thackeray should respond to it now," Upadhye said.

"Both (Awhad and Thackeray) have lost their (original) parties and government. Therefore, they are depressed and find fault with any decision to target the state government," he said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said the state government was not interested in regulating people’s food choices and described the row over abattoir closures on Independence Day as an unnecessary controversy.

The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation has announced the closure of slaughterhouses, outlets and shops selling meat within city limits on two days - August 15 and 20 - in view of festivals.

It stated the closure was ordered on August 15 on the occasion of Gokul Ashtami, a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, and August 20, which marks the beginning of 'Paryushan Parva' - a key festival of the Jain community characterised by fasting and prayers.

The order comes on the heels of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) in Thane district directing the closure of meat shops on August 15.

Aaditya Thackeray earlier said the KDMC commissioner should be suspended because it is not their issue to decide on vegetarian or non-vegetarian food consumption.

Awhad has said he would host a mutton party that day to protest the ban by the KDMC.

The Congress claimed that the BJP-led government in Maharashtra was creating controversies on "nonsensical" issues such as pigeon-feeding in cities and sale of meat on Independence Day to divert attention from serious issues.

The BJP was stoking caste-based and communal tensions as part of its political strategy, state Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal told reporters on Wednesday.

"The Maharashtra government should not tell us what time we should eat meat, what spices or salt should we use; it should not try to control our personal habits, marriages, or our thinking process. Such things have no place in our state, but this government is deliberately doing it," he said.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar expressed displeasure over some civic bodies ordering the closure of slaughterhouses and shops selling meat on August 15, saying it was wrong to impose such a ban.

Such types of restrictions are generally imposed considering faith-related sensitivities on occasions like Ashadhi Ekadashi, Mahashivratri and Mahavir Jayanti, Pawar said, adding people eat vegetarian and non-vegetarian food in Maharashtra.

"It is wrong to impose such a ban. In major cities, people of different castes and religions reside. If it is an emotional issue, then people accept it (ban) for a day. But if you clamp such orders on Maharashtra Day, Independence Day and Republic Day, then it is difficult," Pawar told reporters.