BJP goes soft on meat ban

Stung by the vehement public outcry last year, the BJP-led Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation will keep the meat ban during Paryushan short this year.

Last year, its decision to impose an eight-day ban on meat during the Jain festival of Paryushan in the twin towns of Mira and Bhayander had met with stiff resistance. The corporation will instead appeal to people to keep their shops closed voluntarily.

The Jain festival starts on August 29 this year. Softening its stance, the BJP will abide by government guidelines which mandates a two-day closure. The resolution proposing a two-day ban was passed on Friday by the BJP after it got support from both its ally Shiv Sena and the Opposition.

“We had extended the duration of the ban last year. Unfortunately, it was unnecessarily politicised.

In order to avoid controversies, we will stick to the two-day ban. However, Jain Trusts are willing to compensate those who earn their livelihood from sale of meat. So, an appeal will be made asking them to voluntarily keep them closed,\" said local BJP legislator, Narendra Mehta.

However, this year, a section of NCP corporators, led by Dhruvkishore Patil, countered the resolution, demanding that the ban should not be shortened. Jain members from the BJP remained neutral when the resolution was put to vote on Friday. “My ward has a large number of Jain residents and to respect their sentiments, I have been supporting the eight-day ban,” said Mr Patil.

However, Mayor Geeta Jain of BJP said the NCP was unnecessarily politicising the issue. “They are playing with our emotions. We have decided to abide by the government guidelines, so as to ensure that the ban is effectively implemented for both the days; but as it (NCP) tabled a resolution we had no other alternative but to remain neutral,” said mayor Geeta Jain. Last year, the controversial eight-day meat ban was questioned by the judiciary, prompting the BJP to rethink the move.

BJP had managed to scrape through its resolution imposing an eight-day closure of slaughter houses and sale of meat by virtue of its slender majority in the civic body. Later, BJP corporators in BMC also demanded a similar eight-day ban in Mumbai; however, their demands were supressed.