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News18 kicks off a new series, Sticking Point, which will have prominent opinion makers from across India and the world face off on varied topics through their written words. Sticking Point will be the voice of diverse authors, as they debate on a particular subject of national and international importance, and more importantly, one that enlightens our reader.
I am an avowed non-vegetarian. From crocodiles from the Australian billabongs to horses from Uzbekistan’s valleys and many more creatures in between, I have relished them all on my plate.
Can I still call myself Hindu? Yes, I certainly can. There is meat-eating in the Shakta tradition that many Bengalis like me follow. Indians of or before the Vedic era may have invented biryani as the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad has references to meat cooked with rice. Meat- or fish-eating is not forbidden in Hindu dharma, but it is definitely discouraged in a few texts for being ‘tamasic’.
Is meat-eating not an act of cruelty? Yes, it is. But nature has made it impossible to eat and exist without cruelty. One maims or kills plants too for a meal. Scientists have found that plants can sense and ‘hear’ themselves being eaten and they don’t like it. Having said that, if lab-grown meat evolves into a safe and tasty option, I will enthusiastically adopt it.
But today I shall not dwell on my disagreements with vegetarians.
Rather, it is disgusting that some IIT-Bombay students have harassed their vegetarian mates for whom the management had earmarked just six tables in the mess. It is unnecessary drama, bullying, and intolerance towards someone else’s perfectly legitimate lifestyle choice.
Students from diverse backgrounds come to study at the IITs. Some vegetarian students had complained that they experience a great deal of discomfort eating at a table where non-vegetarian food is being taken. A lot of vegetarians get turned off by the smell of fish, meat or eggs as they are conditioned to a different dietary lifestyle from childhood.
So, the management accommodated their request by setting aside just six of the many dozen tables at the mess. This led to a group of protesting students forcing themselves onto those tables, unpacking non-vegetarian food and eating it.
Shocked at how a mere six tables allocated to vegetarian students at three hostel canteens at IIT-Bombay triggered hostility towards them. On 28 September, some politically motivated students tried to target vegetarian studentsA probe by IIT administration has found them… pic.twitter.com/pfnhlfMc50
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) October 5, 2023
The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle of IIT-Bombay promptly jumped in, calling the administration’s action similar to that of khap panchayats and one that upholds “untouchability”, thereby bringing in a caste angle.
This is wrong on many levels.
First, vegetarianism is not exclusively a matter of caste. While many Brahmin communities observe vegetarianism, it is most pervasive among the Jains, who are a religious minority. Also, millions of Brahmins — especially from eastern and northeastern India, Maharashtra and Kashmir — are non-vegetarians.
Conversely, there are many Muslims, Dalits and other backward-caste Indians who are vegetarians. A 2021 Pew research says four in 10 Indians consider themselves vegetarian. That makes India’s a roughly 40 per cent vegetarian population.
Now, what percentage of the population are Brahmins? Just about 4 percent. Add 0.4 per cent Jains to that. That makes it less than 5 per cent. What about the rest 35 percent who are vegetarians? So, how can vegetarianism be an upper-caste preserve?
Second, vegetarianism is a massively popular and growing lifestyle choice worldwide. A survey conducted by Kansas State researcher Glynn Tonsor has consistently found 10 to 15 per cent of Americans identifying as vegetarian or vegan since 2020. The worldwide vegan food market grew from $14.44 billion in 2020 to $15.77 billion in 2021. One has to respect their food choice and be accommodative if they want to eat away from the smell and feel of non-vegetarian food.
And third, will the protestors force Muslim students to eat from utensils in which pork is cooked? They won’t. So, why pick on the vulnerable and peaceful? Having a few separate tables or utensils is respect for diversity, not apartheid or segregation.
Student messes and canteens should smell of delectable, hot food. Right now, the IIT-Bombay mess smells of destructive and divisive far-Left politics.
Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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