“It is absurd that the question of people’s freedom to eat what they like has to come up in 2015,” said Jnanpith awardee and playwright Girish Karnad while participating in a protest against the beef ban in Maharashtra. The protest was organised in front of Town Hall on Thursday. Participants ate beef in public as a mark of protest. Mr. Karnad and noted writer K. Marulsiddappa termed the ban as an “attack on the diverse food culture of India”.
Questioning the government’s interference in food habits, Mr. Karnad said,
“It is sheer wickedness on the part of the government.” He said that beef is the poor man’s meat.
“The ban is nothing but an attack on the food habits of the poor and the downtrodden.”
Mr. Marulasiddappa said people’s lifestyle and eating habits should be respected. “The government is all set to ban beef across the country. This is a dangerous development,” he said.
A signature campaign and a poet’s meet was organised on the occasion.
