Police detain activists with welcome boards on behalf of ‘All India Non-veg Lovers Society’

Mumbai: Days after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray criticised Jain muni Acharya Nayapadmasagar for seeking to dictate food habits, his party workers were detained by the police on Sunday while attempting to stage a protest outside the muni’s programme venue in Kandivli.

Hemantkumar Kamble, MNS leader from Kandivli, said, “We are not against Jains and their religion, but we want to clarify that no one should lecture us on our food habits, like [Acharya Nayapadmasagar] did during the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation elections. We wanted to protest in a peaceful manner, which is our constitutional right. Despite this, we were detained.”

Acharya Nayapadmasagar made news with his video clip during the Mira-Bhayander civic polls, in which he saint is seen appealing to voters to choose the BJP as it supports a ban on consumption of meat during Paryushan Parva, an important religious occasion for the Jain community.

On Saturday, Mr. Kamble and other MNS functionaries also carried posters welcoming Acharya Nayapadmasagar on behalf of the All India Non-veg Lovers Society. “BJP leaders displayed boards welcoming the Jain saint and we too did the same. But police authorities removed ours and detained us,” he said.

In an interview on Friday, Mr. Thackeray had lashed out at Jain munis for dictating food habits. “Did we ask them to eat non-veg food? Then why should we be told to not eat non-veg food during Paryushan Parva? Food habit is a private matter.” Defending protests staged by his party over non-vegetarian food being cooked outside Jain temples and houses, Mr. Thackeray said restrictions on food were imposed by the Jain munis. “It is obvious there will be a strong reaction to it,” he said.

DCP (Zone XII) Vinay Kumar Rathod told The Hindu that MNS activists were taken into preventive detention to maintain law and order in the area. “They had put up posters about a Jain muni. We had to detain them to avoid any untoward incident. They were released after some time,” he said.