Gujarat: Ahmedabad civic body orders removal of road-side non-veg food stalls

The BJP-controlled Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Monday ordered the removal of road-side stalls that sell non-vegetarian food even as Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel clarified that every person has the discretion to decide whether to eat vegetarian or non-vegetarian food.

The civic body took this decision after a majority of members of its town planning committee raised objection to mushrooming of road-side stalls selling non-vegetarian delicacies prepared from eggs, fish, mutton and chicken which, according to them, offended the sentiments of Jains and Hindus.

The members of the town planning committee belonging to the ruling BJP took strong objection to such non-vegetarian food stalls that are doing flourishing business around religious places, schools and public parks in the city urging the municipal officials to remove them immediately.

However, contrary to the popular belief, particularly outside Gujarat, that majority population of Gujarat is vegetarian, Dalits, OBCs, Adivasis, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Jews and even Hindus who have migrated to Gujarat from other states together form over 75 per cent of the state’s population and eat non-vegetarian food.

Road-side stalls selling omelette, fried and boiled eggs, mutton and chicken kababs and a variety of other preparations, have flourished in all major cities of Gujarat, including in Ahmedabad and can be found even in pre-dominantly upper caste Hindu localities. Even in Muslim majority localities of the walled city of Ahmedabad, the road-side eateries selling non-vegetarian delicacies are frequented more by Hindu customers than Muslims.

Ahmedabad itself is famous for a variety of Mughlai cuisine, particularly champ (fried rib), paya (leg piece of lamb), jhinga (shrimp), shahi kebab and mutton samosa.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who hails from Ahmedabad and was once member of the Municipal Corporation, seems to be aware of this fact.