Thursday, March 21, 2024

To Eat or Not to Eat: Zomato’s ‘Pure Veg’ Initiative Sparks Discussion on Caste-Based Notions of Purity

 Lenin Raghuvanshi, a Varanasi-based activist working for Dalit rights, explained how meat eating became a part of the marginalized community’s social system.

“Untouchability is inherently connected with the food. Since Shudras and Dalits were not allowed to mingle with the society, they were left to fend for themselves with the leftovers. Many times, the Dalit community had the responsibility to dispose of carcasses of animals. They used to take the skin off the corpses to make materials or eat the meat, which again added to the notion of them being ‘impure’ because of that,” he explained.
He said people can have their choice; but when it comes to claiming what is ‘pure’ and the superiority attached with it, it then becomes a problem.
“If everyone had an equal footing, the issue would have been different today. Maybe the concept of ‘purity’ would noy have been associated with food,” Raghuvanshi said.
Vegetarians claim they do not eat meat, he said, asking what about the ones at positions of power who “drink the blood of their employees by exploitation”.
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