I have been reading about this meat ban in Mumbai and all the people losing their heads over this ban and arguing that their freedom of eating what they want is being taken away by this ban and targeting Jains over this issue. People have started trolling about the same and some people have gone to the ridiculous extent of saying that what will you feed the animals in the zoo.

So here is my take on this issue.

For starters, let me clarify that this meat ban has been in place since 1994, yes 1994, which means it’s been there since more than 20 years and it’s not a new thing. So people making a fuss about this meat ban are probably not aware of the history or they willfully chose to ignore things that happen under certain governments. Also if it is a problem now, then it should have been a problem earlier also, why was there no protest over this earlier? People need to think about this before going ballistic over this issue.

Next the people who are targeting Jain’s for imposing their religious beliefs on them clearly don’t know anything about Jainism except for the fact that Jains do not eat onion, garlic and potatoes. So based on this extremely limited knowledge about Jainism, I think it’s wrong to target anyone. So let me put some things in perspective about Jainism.

Jainism has a religion which has non-violence as its core tenant and that is why they do not eat non-veg food. But this non-violence is not only limited to physical violence; it also extends to psychological/mental violence. So if I am forcing someone to do something against their free will, or imposing my ideas on them, then that itself is a sort of violence which any practicing Jain would not do.

Further Jainism is about self-introspection and looking within yourself to try and improve your life and definitely not about forcing someone to follow your beliefs.

Also during Paryushan, Jains say “Micchami Dukadam” which means “If I have, intentionally or unintentionally, in words, deeds or thought, have hurt you any way whatsoever then I ask for your forgiveness”. They ask for forgiveness from everyone irrespective of their cast/creed/eating preference etc. So a Jain asking to intentionally take away the livelihood of some poor person by asking the meat shops remain closed even for a day is something which any person who understands Jainism would not do.

So when it comes to this ban, please note that this was done by some politician just to make his presence felt and nothing else. There has been no Jain organization or a religious head that has come forward supporting this ban because they know that doing so would be wrong as it would be akin to forcibly imposing your ideas and religious beliefs on someone else, which Jains do not believe in doing.

So please stop this mindless targeting of Jain’s and rather target the legislators who have brought about this legislation.

P.S : Also Jains form only 0.42% of the population of the country, so they are not even vote banks, neither do they ask for reservations, are one of the most educated and prosperous communities in the country and are quite self-sufficient and do not depend on the government to grant anything special to them, so if the legislators think that this would be some kind of appeasement to the Jain’s then I think they are highly mistaken.

– Jinang Kothari (Via Mail)

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