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World Vegetarian Day: When green runs red

On World Vegetarian Day, Yogesh Pawar speaks to those who have been faced with the exclusionary side of this ideology meant to have compassion at its heart

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A resident of the Charkop neighbourhood in Mumbai's far western suburb of Kandivali, Jitendra Chauhan is ready to leave for work. His homemaker wife Ratna checklists him for keys, wallet, cellphone and car keys. Picking up a small bundle tied in an old newspaper, she sprays it quickly with room freshener and gives it to him. He bites his tongue, smiles and puts it in the front pouch of his bag. Inside the fist-sized bundle are bones of the chicken lollipop that the Chauhans had last evening. "My daughter Vidya is very fond of them, but this is a strictly vegetarian housing society. So we keep it discreet. We can't trust the housekeeping staff either, so I carry it with me and throw it in the office dustbin," explains Jitendra.

Ratna smiles as she draws her eight-year-old close. "We've told our society we're vegetarians, so we generally eat non-vegetarian stuff out. When we can't go out, Jitendra gets it from a restaurant near his office. But we avoid getting fish since it has a stronger smell."

When the Chauhans went house-hunting they discovered that many flat owners refused to rent premises to non-vegetarians. They finally realised it was easier to lie and say they were vegetarians than be stuck in a home they didn't want. They soon realised that eyebrows were raised even at procuring garlic/onion from the local vendor.

In central Mumbai, software engineer Vaibhav Malvankar has hit a wall trying to buy a flat in his own neighbourhood in Dadar. "I grew up in a chawl here. So after marriage, I wanted to move to a flat in the same area. We sold off ancestral property to buy a flat here, but I found myself denied an apartment wherever I looked. Later, the agent told me that they only sell to 100% vegetarians. Since they don't say this officially, I can't even take legal action," rues the angry 31-year-old. He adds, "This was an all Catholic-Maharashtrian mill-worker neighbourhood before these towers came up. They first got the BMC to move the fishmongers from the area since it 'offended them' and now we're unable to buy houses in our own neighbourhood."

The country's 'cosmopolitan' financial capital is not the only one where exclusion is finding a razor-sharp green edge. Software hub Bengaluru too is no stranger to such "militant vegetarianism," says IT engineer and trained singer Sunil Koshy, who along with his wife Archana Hallikeri had found it difficult to find a home not only in "Brahmin hubs" like Malleshwaram and Chamrajpet in the old city, but also in relatively new suburbs like south-east Bengaluru's Hosur-Sarjapur Road Layout. "Even when we decided to only eat non-vegetarian outside, the Tam-Brahm landlord or his wife would come on surprise 'inspection visits' and casually uncover dishes on the dining room or kitchen table. Fed up, we finally moved in with Hallikeri's parents and are now at peace to eat what we want." Developers here, Koshy says, "even sell property highlighting only vegetarians as a USP."

Mumbai and Bengaluru are not isolated examples as Kolkata resident Upamanyu Das discovered when he moved to Delhi for work. "When I went house-hunting, many rejected me for being single, young and a male. Until a Sikh family agreed to rent me the extra room on their terrace. Though the rent seemed high, I agreed and it looked like it was all falling into place when the old grandmother in the family asked me if I eat maas-machchi-anda (meat-fish-eggs)."

The 27-year-old bank employee thought the Sikh family had mistakenly assumed he was vegetarian. "I wanted to allay concerns and honestly blurted like a good Bengali that I eat everything non-vegetarian," remembers Das only to be told he could not get the room. "They told me they were Radha Soami satsanghis for two generations and strict vegetarians and refused to compromise even when I promised to only have non-vegetarian food outside." For the last six months, he stays with his aunt. "My search for rented accommodation in my budget which will accept a single, young, male, non-vegetarian goes on," he laughs optimistically.

EDDIES OF EXCLUSION

Prof Avatthi Ramaiah – from the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at Tata Institute of Social Sciences – reflects on the exclusions that are happening in the garb of non-vegetarianism. "Exclusion is written in the DNA of the socio-cultural fabric of Indian society for centuries. If not caste, class, religion, region, gender, sexuality language or food habits, we'll find newer ways to 'otherise' and exclude."

Sociologist and cultural historian, Meghana Kashyap agrees with Ramaiah's views, but highlights why the Indian context is so different. "Abroad, this is largely about health and though there is a lot of positive reinforcement for being vegetarian or vegan, there is rarely an attempt to exclude or look down on you," she explains. "Here, the fact that it is linked to religion and caste and the concept of pure and impure, it's more sharp and unique. I know of traditional families where even the utensils used to cook vegetarian and non-vegetarian food are separate," adds Kashyap.

Ramaiah calls exclusion on the basis of dietary habits, the creation of "neo-Agraharams".He explains, "The Brahmin quarter of a village was called Agraharam. No one was allowed to reside there except them. Exclusion of non-vegetarians in many ways is a modern manifestation of the same concept." He laments that "the state wants to simply look away. It rationalises its stance as being in the interests of peace and harmony. Till India becomes fully civilised and learns to live integrated, we have to compromise and make our peace with ghettos." He underlines how this does more damage than good in the long run. "Otherisation and ghettoisation feed off each other and only help fuel hate and suspicion, sowing seeds for further anarchy and feuds that politicians then milk for electoral gains."

HARNESSING FOR POLITICS

In April this year, Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had warned builders in Central Mumbai not selling flats to non-vegetarian buyers. Party functionary Sandip Deshpande, who wrote the letter said the party was forced to up the ante after repeated complaints of discrimination by non-vegetarians. "Once we warned the builders such discrimination would lead them to face the party's ire, they fell in line," he says with pride.

Some like ex-president of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry and well-known real estate developer Vimal Shah feel builders should not be held captive in what is essentially a socio-political and religious debate. "I don't think builders do this, it is done by the cooperative housing societies formed by residents. Builders are here to do business. They will sell to whoever pays the higher price vegetarian or non-vegetarian."

Not everyone agrees with Shah. Especially not an embittered Malvankar. "The Jains are only 0.4% of the Indian population and they contribute over 24% of the income tax kitty. Can you imagine how much wealth is concentrated in the community? How can one even imagine a level playing field? No wonder, despite their failings people like me are drawn to the MNS or Shiv Sena."

In fact the way elections to the far Mumbai suburban civic body of Mira-Bhayander were won by the BJP by consolidating the votes of the 40% Jain population using the vegetarianism card shows how dietary habits can have far-reaching implications in India. The existing rift between the ruling alliance partners in Maharashtra became an all-out slang-match after the BJP dislodged Shiv Sena in the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC). "The appeal by influential Jain monk Naypadmasagar Maharaj to vote for the BJP for vegetarianism was in violation of the election code of conduct," Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut insists.

Raut refers to a video which went viral a few days before polling in which Naypadmasagar had said, "If you don't vote for BJP, new slaughterhouses will open. If you don't vote, chicken will be cooked outside Jain temples. If you don't vote, Narendra Modi and Devendra Fadnavis will become weak. Omelette and egg shops will open in every corner."

Not all Jains agree with Naypadmasagar though. Many like Jain studies scholar Manish Modi decry such mixing of religion and state. "As a citizen of a secular nation I feel while it maybe alright for political leaders to worship/respect monks personally, this shouldn't have a say on policy. Considering the foundation of Jainism is itself compassion, the community should respect other people's rights to live like they want. If that is running foul with the law, it is up to the authorities and courts to take that up. There can be no space for vigilantism."

Having said that, he markedly underlines how the debate over exclusion over dietary habits should not be conflated with people's right to live with who they want. "Singling out the Jains for choosing to live with their own is wrong. The Parsis, for example, have done that all along. Do we call them exclusionary?"

CONSTITUTION ABOVE ALL

Senior advocate Uday Warunjkar says no person can be stopped from cooking the food of her/his choice in her/his house being purchased legally. "No housing society can make rules that members should only consume vegetarian food on the premises. No legal provision allows majority members in a co-operative housing society to impose their food preferences on others. Such societies can't frame bye-laws in contravention of the Constitutional mandate and the provisions of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act. Forcing others to change the way they eat, is a violation of the fundamental right to choose one's own food."

Wonder if that will inspire enough confidence in Vidya's mom to fry fish at their Kandivali home.

VEGAN ONSLAUGHT

  • Though still largely seen as a first-world import into metropolitan India, veganism has had steadily seen a growing following. While there are those who swear by grilled tofu, hummus, and soya milk kheer, there are those who baulk at the very idea and find the constant guilt-tripping of not only non-vegetarians but also what India calls 100% pure vegetarians by the vegan community insane.
     
  • Many like wildlife expert and lecturer Ward M. Clark, author of Misplaced Compassion (2001) question veganism's basic commitment to animal life calling it misguided. In his 2011 essay, The Myth Of the 'Ethical Vegan,' he observes, "Animals are killed in untold millions in the course of plant agriculture, when you factor in how land must be cleared of native vegetation to make room for farming, ravaging natural ecosystems. Every potato, every stick of celery, every cup of rice, and every carrot has a blood trail leading from field to plate."
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