Food fascism by the State

Food fascism by the State

Olav AlbuquerqueUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 09:56 PM IST
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The right to life and food are two sides of the same coin which have been violated with impunity with the banning of eating of beef in BJP-ruled states.  The right to life is synonymous with the right to eat or drink what one pleases within one’s own home which is nothing but the right to privacy guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. But food, life, liberty and privacy today form an empty rhetoric in 21st century India.

Ironically, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi made an erroneous statement before the Supreme Court on July 23 contending that the right to privacy was not a fundamental right, whereas as far back as 1975, the apex court had interpreted it as a fundamental right that fell within the gamut of Article 21. The mandate of the State is to ensure law and order is maintained throughout the country and not to project India as a land of vegetarians, however attractive that may sound.

When a division bench of the Bombay High Court asked former Advocate General Sunil Manohar in April this year why the state did not ban other meat products, his reply was that “this was just the start (that is, banning of cows, bulls and bullocks). Maharashtra will consider banning slaughter of other animals, too. Later, a red-faced chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was forced to backtrack.  Ban beef eating, but ban on pork, chicken and mutton too? Not so fast and not so soon.

The mandate of the State is not to project India as a land of vegetarians, however attractive that may sound.

Perhaps that is why Mohammed Akhlaq has become a martyr to communal politics because his right to life was rudely snuffed out at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh with BJP minister for culture Mahesh Sharma and BJP MLA Sangeet Som making outrageous statements and violating prohibitory orders. The Indian Penal Code has sections 153, 153 A and 153 B which could be applied to these so-called leaders of the masses and others of their ilk for inciting mob violence.  Section 505 (b) and (c) also can be applied, which deals with circulating rumours with intent to disturb public tranquility and incite hostile feelings between different communities.

These sections criminalise inciting enmity between different groups of citizens on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, caste or community, or any other grounds whatsoever. However, it is unlikely that the police, which is under the chief minister, will apply these stringent sections to those who lynched an innocent Akhlaq.

Those who profess secularism in U.P. cannot afford to alienate either the majority or the minority vote banks, so that only cosmetic arrests are made for the benefit of the media. The gross violation of Article 21 of the Constitution and bypassing of Sections 153, 153 A and 153 B are academic exercises to be debated in court rooms which may be insulated from the trauma of mob lynching at Bisada village in Dadri district of U.P.

And so, our ministers make banal noises abroad that communal violence will not be tolerated while winking at the mobocracy which takes place at their own instance and volition. Democracy is the brutal howl of the majority where the minorities live in trepidation and fear of their lives and properties. If beef is banned in deference to the wishes of the majority, there is no reason why pork, which is anathema to the largest minority group in this country, should also not be banned.

 Finally, it is when the state fails to protect its minorities that international law comes into play. Pressure of international opinion can force any recalcitrant state to backtrack. That is why UP minister Azam Khan’s letter to the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, stating that the Narendra Modi government was taking secular India towards a theocratic majority state, may force the Prime Minister to mouth even more platitudes.

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