The non-vegetarian-vegetarian ratio of approximately 80%:20% may not sound pleasant to the ears of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath, yet according to the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021) 83.4% Indian men and 70.6% women in the age group of 15 and 49 eat non-veg food daily, weekly or occasionally.
During the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Adityanath publicly proclaimed that the electoral battle in his state was between 80% versus 20%, hinting at 19.3% Muslim population who may not vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while the rest about 80% are Hindus who will definitely throw their lot behind the saffron outfit.
Sadly, what he perhaps forgot is that Uttar Pradesh has a 21.3% Scheduled Caste population, with whom many Hindus belonging to other castes still do not share food, especially during religious occasions.
Counter-productive move
If food habit of Hindus is the reason behind Uttar Pradesh government’s diktat to shopkeepers to put up name plates during the Kanwar Yatra, the latest NFHS data exposed the ground reality about vegetarianism in India. Since about 80% of the total population of India is non-vegetarian the Uttar Pradesh government’s order on name plates outside eateries, restaurants, dhabas and even fruit and vegetable stalls or ‘thelas’ is not going to work — actually it may prove counter-productive.
So, apart from a few days of the monsoon month of Sawan an overwhelming percentage of these Kanwariyas are non-vegetarian on regular days. The order to put up name-plates — now withdrawn after the Supreme Court’s interim order — will in a way work as an advertisement for the Muslim-owned restaurants or shops. Surprisingly, mechanics and barbers too have been asked to display their names.
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As most of the biryani, kabab and chicken outlets as well as poultry and mutton shops are usually owned by Muslims, now the Hindu customers, who love to eat or buy them, would not face much difficulty in identifying the business establishment owned by the minority community.
There is a general trend among Hindus — even those living in cow-belt states — of preferring Muslim-owned joints if they want to eat non-vegetarian food. It is widely known that male members enjoy more freedom in this regard.
The champions of vegetarianism must first examine why the percentage of non-vegetarians is rising even in the BJP stronghold of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. At an all India level, the proportion of men aged 15-49 years who have never consumed non-vegetarian food decreased from 21.6% in 2015-16 (pervious round of the survey, NFHS-4) to 16.6% in 2019-21, a 5-percentage-point drop. The non-veg eaters in Gujarat increased by at least seven percentage points, the survey data suggest.
Male members of even those social groups who had in the past never taken non-vegetarian food are now taking them.
Mid-day meal
In some states, for example Jharkhand recently, child right activists had launched movement demanding that eggs be given to school children in the mid-day meals. Their argument is that since children of economically weaker sections of the society go to these schools and are not healthy, they should be given eggs.
In contrast, several BJP ruled states had earlier stopped this practice. A few years back Gujarat had even regulated the display of non-vegetarian food items in shops and outlets.
The Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh as well as other BJP governments in Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh appear to be cut off from the ground reality. They need to do thorough soul-searching before undertaking such an unpopular and discriminatory step.
Biryani revolution
Whatever may be the motive of the Adityanath government’s directive, traders from Uttar Pradesh are spreading non-vegetarian culture far and wide. As Moradabadi biryani is popular in Delhi, in particular, and north India, in general, a Muslim businessman from Tanda near Moradabad in Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh came all the way to establish a biryani restaurant in an up-scale market in Patna. Ironically, Muslims do not form even 5% of the population in one km radius of this biryani shop.
Another owner of a biryani restaurant told this correspondent that though his shop is situated in a mixed populated locality yet an overwhelming number of customers are Hindus. They not only turn up to eat in the restaurant but order home delivery.
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Biryani business has increased manifold in the last one decade or so, especially in the Hindi belt where the BJP is in power. In comparison to other fast foods, it is relatively cheap, so customers, cutting across religious lines take it for lunch too. Now, many Hindus are opening biryani joints, even in Uttar Pradesh.
Hyderabadi Biryani in South India and Kolkata Biryani in the East have long been popular among Hindus, reflecting the higher percentage of non-vegetarians in these regions compared to the Hindi heartland. Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu also have their own distinct biryani styles, catering to the diverse tastes of their non-vegetarian populations.
Similarly, the demand of Champaran Mutton is spreading fast. Most of the owners of the outlets serving this dish are Hindus. As it is cooked in earthen ‘handa’ and has its origin in Champaran in Bihar it is named so. It is also a well-known fact that many Muslims enjoy consuming vegetarian food and sweet items from Hindu restaurants and shops.
In general, while Hindus and Muslims do not hesitate buying food items from each others’ shops or outlets, what is of concern is that many customers who are considered upper caste Hindus and even some who belong to the backward caste communities are still reluctant to buy and eat food made by Dalits, or restaurant run by any individual belonging to the Scheduled Caste community. This wall is collapsing, but very slowly in the rural hinterland, especially of North and West India.
Soroor Ahmed is a Patna-based freelance journalist.