Constitution allows me to eat when I like: TMC MP Mahua Moitra slams meat ban during Navratri

`I live in South Delhi. The Constitution allows me to eat meat when I like and the shopkeeper the freedom to run his trade. Full stop,` Moitra said after South Delhi Municipal Corporation asked meat shops in its jurisdiction to remain shut during the nine-day Navratri festival.

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday (April 6, 2022) slammed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for asking meat shops in its jurisdiction to remain shut during the Navratri festival and said that the Constitution allows her to eat meat whenever she likes.

"I live in South Delhi. The Constitution allows me to eat meat when I like and the shopkeeper the freedom to run his trade. Full stop," the TMC MP said in a tweet.

Her statement CAME after the south and east Delhi mayors on Tuesday asked meat shops in their jurisdictions to remain shut during Navratra, saying that "most people do not consume non-vegetarian food" for nine days.

Following their statements, several meat shop owners in these areas of the national capital kept their establishments closed, fearing action by officials. 

East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal claimed that during Navratra "90 per cent people do not consume non-vegetarian food" and his south counterpart Mukesh Suryan said that there was "no need to open meat shops" during the festival as "most people do not consume non-vegetarian food" during this period.

Earlier, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah had also hit out at the SDMC mayor, tweeting, "During Ramzan we don't eat between sunrise and sunset. I suppose it's OK if we ban every non-Muslim resident or tourist from eating in public, especially in the Muslim dominated areas. If majoritarianism is right for South Delhi, it has to be right for J&K (Jammu and Kashmir)."

While no official order has been issued so far, Suryan in a letter to SDMC Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti on Monday had said that "religious beliefs and sentiments of devotees are affected" when they come across meat shops or have to bear the foul smell of meat on their way to offer daily prayers to goddess Durga during Navratra.

Meat shops will not be allowed to open from Tuesday during Navratra till April 11, he had said and asked the municipal commissioner to ensure strict adherence to his directives.

This, reportedly, is the first time when the civic body has asked for the closure of meat shops under its jurisdiction during Navratri which is being observed from April 2-11.

(With agency inputs)