Image: Twitter | @CTRavi_BJP
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Chikkamagaravalli Thimme Gowda Raavu a.k.a CT Ravi had last made the news when he raised the slogan “desh ke gaddaro ko goli maro!” (shoot the traitors) as his reaction to the alleged “security breach” on the Prime Minister’s route in Punjab in December. Now, the BJP National general Secretary, who is also a four-time MLA from Chikmagalur, has decided to join the right-wing groups’ hate call to boycott ‘Halal’ meat which they equate with Muslim dietary habits, and has called all Halal food ‘economic jihad’ reported The New Indian Express.
Attaching words like Jihad/Jehad when they want to target Muslims is a well known right wing tactic, which has once again begun doing the rounds of social media as the the Hindu New Year falls on April 2. This time, the messages “appeal” to Hindus to boycott Halal meat.
In Ravi’s home state of Karnataka, the festival is celebrated with great joy and special foods are cooked, offered to gods, and shared with friends and family. According to the TNIE report, “A day after Ugadi, a section of “non-vegetarian” Hindus offer meat to God and celebrate the New Year.” However, this year some right wing groups are asking people to skip this part of the celebrations. Ravi seems to have added fuell to this call and remarked that Halal food was so called ‘economic jihad’. A massive econmic boycott forbidding Muslim / non-Hindu vendors around temples during fairs is gathering steam in Karnataka. Now Ravi says, “Halal is an economic Jehad. It means that it is used like a Jehad so that Muslims should not do business with others. It has been imposed. When they think that Halal meat should be used, what is wrong in saying that it should not be used?”
According to him Halal meat offered to ‘their [Muslim] God’ is dear to them (Muslims) “but for Hindus, it is somebody’s leftover” stated the report adding that Ravi believed “Halal has been designed in a planned way so that the products should be purchased only from Muslims and not others.” He asked the media, “When Muslims refuse to buy meat from Hindus, why should you insist on Hindus to buy from them? What right people have to even ask this?” Ravi went a dangerous step ahead to reportedly say that “if Muslims agree to eat non-Halal meat, then these people (Hindus) will also use Halal meat.”
According to the news report 61 progressive thinkers from the State, including K Maralusiddappa, Prof S G Siddaramaiah, Bolwar Mahamad Kunhi and Dr Vijaya, have written to the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with an appeal to check religious hatred. They wrote, “It is shameless work to deliberately instil religious hatred in this land where the epistle is sung as a garden of racial peace,” adding “festivals are held all over the State and are all economic and cultural dimensions that do not make any Muslim relatives wealthy.”
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has already directed temples coming under the Muzrai Department to mark Ugadi, the first day of the Hindu New Year, as a “Dharmika Dina” (religious day), reported The Hindu. The Minister for Muzrai Shashikala Jolle announced that “as the Religious Endowment Department in accordance with is religious background, we thought it was appropriate to celebrate Ugadi day as a religious day.” According to the directions, issued “programmes should be organised at all notified temples on that day as per Indian culture.” Such a programme should involve efforts to bring awareness among people about the “influence and benefits of the various stars”, said the minister. It has also been announced that the traditional offering of neem and jaggery will be made at the temples who have also “been told to conduct special poojas and prayers for the development of the State,” added the news report .
The food politics are not new to the state. Last year, Bangalore based iD dosa batter makers [who hail from a Muslim family] were targetted by a communal misinformation campaign and had to issue a public statement saying their idli dosa batter contained only rice, urad dal, fenugreek and RO-water. This was after a Whatsapp and social media campaign had spread the fake news that the dosa batter made and sold by iD had ‘cattle bones and calf rennet’.
Recently, iD Foods issued advertisements in newspaper when on scanning a QRcode, a live feed of the food production line at their automated factories can be seen. It is also on their website under the page titled ‘trust factory’
Whoa! Really interesting effort by iD Foods – they are live-streaming from their batter factory in Bengaluru (the world’s largest batter factory, as they call it) to build trust (after relentless and persistent disinformation campaigns)! There are 8 live feeds that stay live 1/3 pic.twitter.com/zhGSJlfiGn
— Karthik ?? (@beastoftraal) March 30, 2022
Food centred communal prejudices are all a part of The Pyramid Of Hate. Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) Secretary and human rights defender Teesta Setalvad has explained how such minute biases and prejudices are a part of the climb up the pyramid of hate.
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