New Delhi: At least four civic bodies in Maharashtra, and one in Hyderabad, have ordered meat shops to remain shut on August 15, Independence Day.

In a post on X, Hyderabad member of parliament Asaduddin Owaisi said, "Many municipal corporations across India seemed to have ordered that slaughterhouses and meat shops should be closed on 15th August. Unfortunately, [Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation] has also made a similar order. This is callous and unconstitutional."

Owaisi asked what the connection between eating meat and celebrating India's Independence Day is:

“What’s the connection between eating meat and celebrating Independence Day? 99% of Telangana’s people eat meat. These meat bans violate people’s right to liberty, privacy, livelihood, culture, nutrition, and religion."

Meat bans during Hindu festivals have become usual under the Narendra Modi dispensation. They are hotly contested by most who argue that most in the country predominantly eat non-vegetarian food and that such a move affects local economies. Although August 16 is Janmashtami, a noteworthy day in the Hindu calendar, this meat ban has extended to a secular holiday.

Civic bodies in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Malegaon and Nagpur, have issued similar orders, dividing even the ruling alliance in Maharashtra.

While the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has questioned the ban, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders defended it, citing a 1988 state government order empowering municipal corporations to impose such restrictions on occasions like Independence Day and Mahavir Jayanti, Hindustan Times reported.

KDMC deputy commissioner (licences) Kanchan Gaikwad also said the order has been issued every year since 1988.

Ajit Pawar, who is deputy chief minister, said, "One would have understood the ban if it were on Ashadhi Ekadashi or Mahavir Jayanti. But when there is no such occasion, why should meat shops be forced to remain closed?”

India Today reports that as per the KDMC order, all slaughterhouses and shops of licenced butchers of goats, sheep, chickens, and large animals must remain closed for 24 hours from midnight of August 14 till midnight of August 15, and said it would invoke the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, 1949, if any one flouted this.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) MLA Aaditya Thackeray was quoted by ANI as having said that this is neither a matter of religion nor of national interest and called for the suspension of the Kalyan-Dombivli commissioner.

"What we eat on Independence Day is our right, our freedom. They cannot tell us whether to eat veg or non-veg. We will definitely eat non-veg. We eat it in our house. In our house, even on Navratri, our prasad has prawns, fish, because this is our tradition, this is our Hinduism... This is not a matter of religion, and it is not a matter of national interest..."

NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader Jitendra Awhad was reported as saying that he would eat non-vegetarian food on August 15 in protest against the ban.

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