Maharashtra: Govt Bans Meat Sale For 10 Days in Solapur for Pandharpur Wari Yatra
Mumbai: Imposed vegetarianism around Hindu festivals has gradually become a norm across various states in India. The latest is the Pandharpur Wari, an annual pilgrimage undertaken in Maharashtra for over 700 years and deeply rooted in the Bhakti movement, which has also come under the grip of the BJP-led state government.
Jaykumar Gore, Maharashtra’s minister of rural development and Panchayat Raj and a BJP leader, has directed the Solapur district administration, which includes Pandharpur town, to completely ban the sale of any kind of meat for 10 days – from seven days before Ashadi Ekadashi to three days after the culmination of the pilgrims' foot journey to the Pandharpur temple.
Gore, speaking to the media, claimed that the decision was taken following demands from the pilgrims visiting the Pandharpur temple, situated on the banks of Chandrabhaga River.
“Several warkaris (pilgrims) have expressed their wish to the chief minister (Devendra Fadnavis) to have a ban on meat sales during this period. So, the collector was finally directed to take the decision,” Gore said.
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A complete ban on liquor sales has also been announced in the district during this period. Similar decisions have been implemented in other areas through which the pilgrims are scheduled to travel in the coming days.
The tradition of making a foot journey to Pandharpur, initiated in the 13th century by saints like Sant Dnyaneshwar and Sant Tukaram, is deeply rooted in an anti-caste ethos. In this socio-religious movement, Sant Tukaram’s teachings, in particular, challenged caste-based discrimination. The saint-poet movement, which spanned the 13th to 18th centuries and is also known as Maharashtra’s renaissance period or Sudharna, was later revived in the 19th and 20th centuries by several anti-caste leaders who drew on the teachings of Bhakti movement saints.
Over the past few years, however, the BJP and various right-wing groups have shown increasing interest in this organised sect, with several attempts to infuse it with a Hindutva ideology. Participants in the Wari, known as Warkaris, mostly hail from Bahujan castes and meat-eating communities.
While Warkaris abstain from meat consumption during the pilgrimage, meat consumption by other villagers has historically not been an issue. In recent years, particularly under the BJP government in Maharashtra, several right-wing groups have advocated for a statewide ban on meat during the annual festival.
Similar attempts have earlier been made around the nine-day celebration of Navaratri, Ram Navami among other festivals.
Earlier this month, the Maharashtra Goseva Ayog, a commission set up for the welfare of indigenous cows, had directed all Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) to not hold any livestock market from June 3 to June 8, a period before and after Eid al-Adha, commonly known as Bakrid. This decision, taken through a government resolution, was eventually withdrawn.
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