'Food policing' in India exploits country's deepening divisions

With India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) resuming a third term in power, food has become a divisive element across the country.

Many in the Hindu far-right party have been intent on proving India to be a "vegetarian nation."

To implement this baffling idea, food restrictions and policing have been imposed in earnest, something that is contradictory to the Constitution itself which clearly states, "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure of law."

The most recent situation emerged in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Muzaffarnagar police there issued a mandatory order on July 17. They wanted businesses to prominently display the names of the owners and the staff of all eateries, food vendors, and fruit carts lined up on either side of New Delhi – Haridwar, a national highway and the key route traversed by pilgrims during the holy Kanwar Yatra.

Similar orders were also issued in the neighbouring state of Uttarakhand and the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, presumably to help customers support Hindu vendors over Muslim ones - and in the process, deprive the Muslim lower middle class.

This year, the two-week long annual pilgrimage taken on bare foot by Hindu pilgrims began on July 22 and will continue until August 6.

During that fortnight, millions of devotees will walk a route that cuts through the states of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Uttarakhand (both ruled by BJP) to finally reach Haridwar, a city located in Uttarakhand on the banks of the Ganges River. The observance includes the collection of water from the foothills of the Himalayas, where the river meets the plain.

Along the stretch there are innumerable shops and stalls owned by Hindus and Muslims who have been serving refreshments and water to the devotees - who do not consume nonvegetarian food during the month of the pilgrimage.

The implementation of the order would have impacted everyone, as businesses here are often integrated, such as a Muslim eatery owner employing Hindu staff and suppliers, and vice versa.

To ensure that Kanwar Yatra continues as normal, India's Supreme Court ordered a stay on the enforcement of the police directive on July 22, which has now been extended until August 5.

This order has brought back a sense of assurance to all involved, but the incident has revived a great debate about food politics in today's India.

Origins of food politics

India is supposedly home to the world's largest democracy. Yet there has been frequent abrasion of its democratic principles in recent times, most tellingly when it comes to the politics of food and identity.

Since the BJP took power in 2014, it has pushed the core idea of one food, one "vegetarian" nation. Why?

The idea takes root in the "otherisation" of any individual or community who is not a Hindu. This includes Muslims, Christians and Dalits (who form the last tier in the caste system), and aligns with the concept of ethnicity-based nationalism encapsulated as Hindu Rashtra (State of the Hindus).

Hindu Rashtra has been integral to the manifesto of Rashtriya Sevak Sangh (RSS) founded in 1925, the parent entity of a number of other organisations including the BJP, and is grounded in Hindu nationalist thinking.

The ideology excludes non-Hindus, categorising them as "the Other." Alienation starts with defining who is an Other and what they eat, with stereotyped understandings attached, like Muslims are voracious meat eaters, and Dalits and Christians can consume any kind of meat.

These categories are not based on evidence. On the contrary, global research offers a reality check, including a 2021 Pew Centre study that found most Indians do not abstain from meat altogether – and only 39 percent of Indian adults describe themselves as vegetarian.

But such international studies have been often ignored by the ultra-nationalists as heady academic work, while food continues to be used as a part of the divisive discourse.

But domestically, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, conducted in 2019-21, published 2022) of India also affirms the increase in non-vegetarian food eaters. The survey also indicates that more people now consume meat once a week, an increase from the earlier survey conducted between 2015-2016.

That said, Hindutva supporters do not care much about data-based realities or existing diverse food habits, and thus food policing primarily targeted at the Muslims, Dalits and Christians who consume animal food continues.

Over time, it has even extended to anyone who is not a vegetarian, including non-vegetarian Hindus. For the uninitiated, several communities adhering to Hinduism consume fish, meat and poultry. There is no homogeneity within Hinduism when it comes to food patterns.

Policing and or curbing of traditional food habits have taken shape in different forms like the current order of displaying owner and staff names along the route of Kanwar Yatra. There have also been calls to shut down shops selling animal food during Hindu festivals like Navratri.

To that end, the BJP has also mobilised robust campaigns against cow slaughter (cows are sacred to Hindus), banning beef sales by law in some states, in tandem with a cow vigilante movement fuelling the mob culture of violence.

There have been brutal incidents based on suspicion that those who were killed sold or stocked bovine meat. Though lynching incidents faced national and international media outrage, politicising food never really ceased. On the contrary, it returns every now and then.

In 2021, New Delhi restaurants were asked to put up signs specifying the slaughter method for the meat served on their menus, or face fines. Observers criticised the order as another bid to create divisiveness and push the majoritarian agenda.

However, municipal leaders belonging to the BJP justified the directive as a right to information by customers, while the hotel association countered the order, noting that most people are only interested in the quality of meat and how hygienically it has been cooked and served - and not the method of slaughter.

Notably, butchers in Delhi are helmed by Muslim traders, with halal meat slaughtered per Islamic standards usually served, while Hindu and Sikh methods termed "jhatka" aren't as prevalent.

Looking to the future

In light of the decade-long fight over food and identity politics, the recent order issued to display the names of eatery owners and their staff along the pilgrimage route of Kanwar Yatra is not an exception.

State governments involved have cited "religious sentiments" as the primary reason for the order. Reports however note that several Muslim eateries in the route only serve pure vegetarian food each year during the pilgrimage.

For now, the Supreme Court's stay order has been a breather amid a complex scenario, protecting the constitutional values of the right to livelihood, life and liberty. The pondering thought however is, why did the highest court even need to intervene, as India's Constitution is enshrined in the premise of equality and power of the people?

Yes, the nation's founding is enshrined in the principles of democracy, but the future remains complicated. With the administration deciding on if one's food is "forbidden," matters become grim when pantries and kitchens are inspected for any food that may be deemed offensive to the majority.

In sum, India's food politics returns us to the playbook of identity politics simmering across the country; one that is drawn out of ethnicity-based nationalism which once again creates divisions between "us" and "them."