With Polls on Mind, BJP Goes ‘Soft’ on Meat Sale Ban in Jammu

The Bharatiya Janata Party-controlled Jammu Municipal Corporation was  probably the first municipal body in the country to ban the sale of meat during the Hindu festival of Navaratri. It passed a resolution to this effect last year on April 9, which remains operative. However, as the holy month of Ramzan in Islam overlapped with Navaratri last year as well, the order was slightly modified to allow sale of meat in Muslim-majority areas of the city after protests and concerns raised by the Muslim community.

This year, both Ramzan and Navaratri started on the same day – April 2. Despite the ban order, the BJP seems to be not actively seeking its strict implementation unlike last year. Political observers believe that the saffron party is apparently adopting "soft Hindutva" as elections are around the corner and the party needs Muslims support – especially in the Jammu region – to expand its base as it is eyeing to emerge as the single largest party.

The BJP had won 43 seats in the 75-member body of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) in 2018, improving its tally by 18 seats.

BJP corporator Parmod Kapahi, who had moved the resolution last year, seems to be striking a conciliatory note this year. "Our objective was not to hurt the sentiments of any community. Since Jammu is also a city of temples, it was a general feeling among Hindus that meat should be banned during the nine days of Navaratri. Since it coincided with Ramzan, we immediately modified the order to allow its sale in Muslim-majority areas. Last year, it was a major issue since it was done for the first time. Now, it's the job of administration to see its implementation," said Kapahi.

Independent JMC corporator Shama Akhtar was one of the few voices who had opposed the resolution last year. She said that the BJP corporators didn't even agree to introduce some modification during a discussion in the House, which had the potential of hurting religious sentiments. 

"Ramzan was coming, but the BJP didn't heed to my concerns and passed the resolution. It was modified later. This year, the House hasn't met  for the last four months, but it's not a major issue now. It seems that eyeing the elections, the BJP is not raking up the issue," said Akhtar.

The Jammu city with about 15 lakh population has 10% to 12% of Muslim population. Earlier, it was confined to a few pockets of the old Jammu city. However, due to migration and resettlement from other districts of Jammu, militancy in Kashmir, and other economic reasons, Muslims started settling in Jammu. Their settlement was termed as a plan to bring about "demographic change" in Jammu by the BJP and other Right-wing parties. However, of late, this so-called issue of the "demographic change" seems to have been dropped by the BJP.

There hasn't been a major Hindu-Muslim clash in Jammu since 1947 as Jammu Muslims — linguistically and culturally similar to Dogra Hindus – have also been quite open to conciliation.  

"We don't want any kind of communal tension in Jammu. Hindus had certain objections – especially on slaughtered animals displayed at the meat shops during Navratri. We decided not to open shops in Hindu areas. Since Ramzan is coinciding this year too with Navaratri,  it was decided that meat shops even in the Muslim areas will have a black mirror so that the meat is not displayed," said Sheikh Zahoor, president of the Muslim United Forum, which has its office in the old Jammu city.

The BJP had made meat a major issue in the last few years. In 2016, a petition was filed by BJP activist cum lawyer Parimoksh Seth seeking directions to ban sale of beef in J&K. The J&K High Court had issued directions to  the government for a strict enforcement of the ban. Though beef is not sold in Jammu, it is consumed in Kashmir – where the ban elicited a strong reaction.

Parimoksh Seth was appointed deputy advocate general by the J&K government to represent it in the Jammu wing of the High Court last December. Last July, the J&K government issued a hasty clarification with regard to the reported ban on cow slaughter in Kashmir on Bakri Eid saying no such order banning it had been issued.

Since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, J&K has been under the direct control of the Modi-led central government. The elections in J&K are likely to be held after the Delimitation Commission panel submits its recommendations in May this year. The Commission has proposed increasing the number of seats in Jammu from 37 to 43 and in Kashmir, from 46 to 47.  It also proposed reserving nine seats for Scheduled Tribes.

The BJP had won 25 out of 37 seats in Jammu in the 2014 Assembly elections, paving the way for it to form a government in alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015. It had swept Hindu-majority areas of Jammu, limiting its political base. The saffron party is now trying to expand its base in Muslim areas, particularly of the Jammu region. 

The proposed reservation for the nine Assembly seats for STs is viewed as part of this plan as six of them are in Jammu region. Gujjar and Bakerwal communities are major tribes among the STs and the BJP has been trying to bring them into its fold. These communities comprise Muslims, but culturally, ethnically, and linguistically, they are distinct from Kashmiri Muslims.

BJP leader Devender Rana, brother of MoS PMO Dr Jitendra Singh, who was only recently a close aide of Farooq and Omar Abdullah before switching sides, said a few days back that the party is focused on ‘Sab ka Saath, Sab ka Vikas, Sab ka Priyas and Sab ka Vishwas’. He also said that BJP is committed towards a prosperous and inclusive J&K.

Rana, who was with the National Conference earlier, is among the handful of BJP leaders who had access to and relations with Muslim community. BJP knows that it needs allies for government formation and it can't be seen anti-Muslim in Jammu.

"J&K has a religious divide, but the ethnic divide is also more pronounced. So, a political party has to consider these factors if it aims to expand or consolidate its political base. One can't ignore the fact the external forces are also active in fomenting trouble and looking for a trigger. BJP, which is ruling at the Centre, is obviously aware of these issues," said Javed Rahi, a noted Tribal researcher, who has published 12 books.

JMC BJP corporator Yashpal Sharma, who supported the resolution on meat ban last year, said that he had been getting information about meat sale in Hindu majority areas this year as well and had informed the administration. However, the party activists have neither protested on the streets nor forced shop closures.

The author is a Jammu-based senior journalist with about two decades of experience in journalism. His last stint was with the Hindustan Times as its Jammu bureau in-charge. He has contributed to publications including Outlook, The Federal, and The Wire. He can be reached at @tarun33 on Twitter.