Chhattisgarh has become the fourth BJP-ruled State in the country to > ban the sale of meat for a week owing to the Jain festival Paryushan and Hindu festival Ganesh Chaturdashi.
“Due to Jain Paryushan Parv and Ganesh Chaturdashi, it is being ordered that all meat shops falling under the jurisdiction of different municipalities and municipal corporations should remain closed from September 10 to September 17 for eight days,” said a circular issued by Chhattisgarh’s general administration department to > various municipal bodies in the State.
The Hindu has a copy of one such circular issued to the Raipur Municipal Corporation dated September 8. The order cites rule no.434 of circular of the Chhattisgarh Environment and Civic Development of 2002.
Government spokespersons refused to speak “on record.” A senior bureaucrat, requesting anonymity, said that there was nothing new in the ban. “The State is imposing such ban since 2011 but this year it has caught the media glare due to the controversy surrounding meat ban in Mumbai,” said the bureaucrat.
The Congress accused the Raman Singh government of “i >nciting” public psyche . “ The government is trying to communalise the issue by imposing such blanket ban. Chhattisgarh is a tribal State and the tribals prefer non-vegetarian food,” State Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said.
