The ban on sale of meat during four days of Paryushan has caused Raj and Uddhav Thackeray to sell meat inprotest
The meat ban controversy seems to be getting murkier by the day with the Shiv Sena and the MNS training their guns on the Jain community over the banning of the sale of meat during the Jain fasting period of Paryushan. Activists of the two parties also sold meat at Dadar in protest against the ban in areas like Mira Bhayander, Mumbai and Amravati.
MNS president Raj Thackeray warned that Jains should not decide who should eat what in Maharashtra, and alleged that the community was asserting itself after the rise of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on the national arena. The Shiv Sena on the other hand, charged that: "Till now, only fundamentalist Muslims indulged in bullying in the name of religion, but if Jains are taking the same road by calling themselves minorities like Muslims, then God must protect them."
An editorial on Thursday in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, which has party president Uddhav Thackeray as the editor and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut as the executive editor, said that the controversy, which was coming at a time when people were finding it tough to eat a square meal, was "inhuman" and a "type of violence." It noted that after the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai, when Maharashtrians had "protected" Jains and Gujaratis, these trading communities had supported the violence.
Raj said that residential towers built by the community, were restricted to Gujaratis and Jains, and had no space even for vegetarian Maharashtrians. He added that the MNS would protect meat sellers.
"Why are they being pampered? Who asked the state government to get into this?" questioned the MNS chief, adding that the Devendra Fadnavis-led state government had failed to show its administrative acumen. He also criticised frequent foreign tours by Fadnavis.
Raj also criticised the state government's decision to transfer out Rakesh Maria as the Mumbai commissioner of police.
Raj also attacked the state government for claiming that it had given relief in toll to commuters and pointed to how major toll projects like the Mumbai Entry Point (MEP) were still operational. He questioned why IRB, which collects toll on the Mumbai-Pune expressway and handles its upkeep, had not paid toll to the families of those who lost their lives and were injured in the recent landslide on the road.
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