“You Don’t Decide What We Eat” - Kerala Hosts ‘Beef Fests’ Protesting New Ban

On Friday, May 27, 2017, the Central government banned the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets, for slaughter. They put stringent rules and regulations in place for the monitoring at many levels—cattle shall be sold only for agricultural purposes. Putting it even more simply, it calls for a nationwide beef ban.

The new rules have been registered under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, and to say this move has left a lot of people angry would be an understatement.

While cow slaughter, illegal slaughterhouses and beef has been banned and contested in many states already, making a nationwide ruling such as this is a major matter of contentious. On Saturday, Kerala hosted numerous protests against this move. Various political and student organisations came together and revolted in typical Keralite bravado, through ‘beef fests’ across the state.

“How can someone decide what we should eat. Government should be concerned about whether people have enough nutritious food to eat. Are they bringing this rule to remove poverty in Indian villages? We will not allow this fascism to invade our kitchens. We will eat whatever we want, this is just the beginning of our agitation. This is an agitation to push away the fascism. To protect the cattle in the country, farming system in the country needs to be strengthened. This ban will affect the livelihood of many people. When the Sangh Parivar brought in such restrictions earlier, but the UDF kept quiet all these years and now this new rule is the result of their silence,” stated M Vijin, the Student Federation of India (SFI) state secretary to The News Minute. Their form of protest was cooking and eating beef, distributing it to the public, and the Youth Congress even distributed raw beef meat as protest.

Beef was cooked and served in front of Kerala Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram by members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI); SFI conducted their festival outside Kerala University, and Kollam witnessed their own celebration of one of the state’s staple meats by the district Congress committee. Beef curry was served by the Kerala Students Union outside Ernakulam BJP office, while SFI and DYFI stationed themselves outside the Town Hall. Current and ex-members of governing bodies too joined in the beef fests to show their support, including Tourism and Cooperation Minister Kadakampally Surendran and CPI(M) district secretary P Rajeev.

While many Indians have come out in support of Kerala’s protest, others have condemned their actions as too extreme, suggesting legal recourse be taken instead of such a public display. The state is looking to the law and the Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan has already penned a letter to the Prime Minister stating the public’s outrage and stance against the new ruling. As per reports, he added that the “central government cannot decide on what people should eat and that it would render many people jobless.”

While the Congress plans to observe Monday as a black day of protest, rumour has it that Bangalore too has planned to host their own beef fest, following Kerala’s display on Saturday.

You can read the full report by The News Minute here, and click here to read Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s letter to the Prime Minister.

Feature image via Democratic Youth Federation Of India website.