The notices given to the meat shop owners by the Varanasi Municipal Corporation to shut down meat shops in two-kilometer radius of the temple and the FIRs filed against them in Varanasi will push the meat traders into imminent hardship. The meat shops have been selling meat since long, and they continue to be in the same business because there are buyers for meat. So, the purpose of the drive to evict the meat traders is not that there are no meat consumers, but it is part of imposing the Sanghi agenda targeting a particular community in the area. At the same time, there are no actions against the prohibited liquor shops in the locality.

Food is part of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The area for permissible business cannot be demarcate,d debarring the businessmen, as well as consumers on religious lines. According to information available on the public domain, the population of non-vegetarian food consumers in our country is vast majority. The notices at issue are a glaring violation of the law of the land.

Adv. Sharfudheen Ahmad
National Vice President