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Indian cities will remove non-vegetarian food stalls from major roads New Foods

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New Delhi, India – Ahmedabad authorities have ordered the removal of non-vegetarian food stalls from its main roads – the fourth largest city in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

In an order issued Monday, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said it would remove stalls selling non-vegetarian food from the city’s main roads as well as within a 100-meter (330-foot) radius of schools, institutes and religious sites.

Devang Dani, chairman of the corporation’s town planning committee, told ANI news agency that execution of the order will begin on Tuesday.

The curtailment was taken by the municipal corporations of the cities of Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Junagadh in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Right-wing Party (BJP), to take similar measures and reached the days.

Buyers gather a market area between Teen Darwaza and Bhadrakali temple before Ahmedabad’s Diwali Hindu festival. [Sam Panthaky/AFP]

Gujarat, one of the richest states in India, is the birthplace of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who served as his prime minister for almost 13 years before winning the 2014 national elections.

The civic administration of Vadodara and Rajkot also ordered shopkeepers and vendors to cover non-vegetarian foods, including eggs, saying it could “harm the religious feelings of Hindus”.

He also noted that smoke coming from these places could pose public health risks.

“The custom of displaying meat, fish and eggs at stalls could last for several years, but it was time to end it,” said Hitendra Patel Vadodara, chairman of the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation, according to local media.

Gujarat’s current prime minister, Bhupendra Patel, said on Monday that the ban was not a question of “vegetarian and non-vegetarian” food.

“People are free to eat what they want. But the food sold at the stalls should not be harmful and the stalls should not obstruct traffic, ”he told reporters.

BJP Gujarat spokesman Yamal Vyas said the decisions were taken by the relevant municipal offices and not his parties.

“It is not the decision of the BJP. It is the decision of the relevant municipal corporation … The party as a whole has not taken any position on this issue,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The only thing is that all these outlets shouldn’t be a barrier to traffic … The BJP doesn’t stand up to non-vegetarian food in itself. We’re against very unhygienic foods.”

The opposition Congress party said the BJP wants to “divert people’s attention” from key issues, including unemployment and rising prices.

“The BJP has failed to deliver on its promises to the people, be it employment or clean water. The BJP’s main agenda is to create polarization by raising issues that are not like that,” Gujarati Congress spokesman Manish Doshi told Al Jazeera.

Doshi said the ban on non-vegetarian food stalls in Gujarat cities was an “election exchange” for the BJP to further deepen the state’s religious distribution.

“The individual must be allowed to eat, drink and dress. It’s a personal choice and the government shouldn’t impose that on the people. This [ban on non-vegetarian stall] It’s a BJP election trick, ”Doshi said.

“It’s very dangerous for our democracy.”

Elections will be held next year in Gujarat, a state governed by the BJP for more than 25 consecutive years.

Non-vegetarian restaurants, especially in states ruled by the BJP, have come under increasing pressure from the supremacists of the party and the Hindu groups associated with it.

Shamshad Pathan, a politician from Gujarat’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslim (AIMIM) group, told Al Jazeera that the decision will harm the poor and said it is part of the BJP’s “hidden agenda” for the benefit of multinationals.

“The majority of vendors selling non-vegetarian food in Gujarat are Muslims, Dalits or Adivasis. [Indigenous]. That’s the right thing to do and to benefit big corporations, ”Pathan said.



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