As Hindutva groups old chants of “Kashi-Mathura baaki hai” get louder, and are also used by criminal groups to target Muslims, the story of 56-year-old Mohammad Zameel and his Taj Hotel in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, leaves more than a bad taste in the mouth. According to a report in the Times of India, this eatery, since 1974 was known as the ‘Taj Hotel’. However, since communal winds grew stronger and more frequent, it was renamed as the ‘Royal Family Restaurant’ in December 2021.
However, it does not end at the mere renaming of Taj Hotel into a more ‘general’ sounding name. The hotelier, who would have otherwise been celebrating 50 years of his family owned legacy in a couple of years, said he had to change the restaurant’s food, and even staff, to survive.
“Being a Muslim has become difficult in the city. I am constantly looked upon with suspicion,” the businessman was quoted by TOI. He added, “We live in times of uncertainty and constantly fear the unknown. We have no option but to hide our identities in order to earn our livelihood. This restaurant has been my family’s source of income for decades. Before me, my parents used to run it. It’s painful for me to change my family’s legacy.”
Zameel, according to TOI has terminated the services of eight Muslim staff members, and hired Hindus. The reason he claims is that, “They cook better vegetarian food. That’s all we’re allowed to sell after the state government banned the sale of meat and liquor in the city last year.” So now, instead of what were its hot selling chicken kormas, chicken changezi, and niharis, the eatery now sells “paneer changezi and paneer korma”.
The owner, perhaps ‘visibly Muslim’, has also taken steps to protect his own life and told TOI that he had “stopped sitting at the cash counter to ensure that my appearance doesn’t keep clients away. I’ve hired Hindu staff to take my place. I have faced huge losses. Some anti-social elements still don’t allow me to operate smoothly, as I am on their target. My income has reduced to Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 a day, from around Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000 a day earlier. This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen such hostility in the area. This was a peaceful temple town and we lived harmoniously. Suddenly, everything has changed. No one can even think about eating non-vegetarian dishes at their homes because there’s always fear that a right-wing activist may thrash us after accusing us of ‘smuggling beef’,” reported TOI.
According to the report, he added that the high court had been approached “about the meat ban but the matter is still pending. Instead of waiting for long and incurring more losses, I decided to convert my restaurant to survive.”
However, in Uttar Pradesh, a mere change of name may not be adequeate protection to any restaurant or food buisness if the owner is a Muslim.
In April, a Hindutva mob including men belonging to the so called “Sangeet Som Sena”, was booked by Meerut police for “rioting and loot”. This mob has been accused of vandalising the food cart of Mohd Sajid, a “vegetarian biryani seller” Sajid’s cart of “veg soya biryani”, as they claimed the Muslim vendor was selling meat during Navratri in Sardhana, the Assembly constituency of Meerut where Sangeet Som was voted out of this Assembly election. They reportedly asked him why he was selling biryani when it is “banned” during the nine days of Navratri. Sajid told the police that the mob “threw away all the food, vandalised my cart and took away my money.”
This is from Meerut, UP.
Shahid was selling ‘Veg Biryani’, Hindutva goons vandalized his Biryani stall on the accusation of selling Non-Veg Biryani.
Perpetrators are supporters of BJP leader Sangeet Som. pic.twitter.com/lRtK5sjd56
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) April 3, 2022
The reality, however, is that consumption of non-vegetarian food has increased in India, including in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, as per data released by the recent National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5). As reported and analysed by CJP, in 2020, while hearing a plea to ban Halal meat, the Supreme Court reportedly commented[1], “Tomorrow you will say nobody should eat meat? We cannot determine who should be a vegetarian and who should be a non-vegetarian.” The CJP too had taken a deep-dive into the jurisprudence surrounding meat ban. The detailed legal resource may be read here.
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