WHY BEEF AND PORK FOOD FESTIVAL IN JNU??

Comrades, we have recently seen the Janmastami celebrations in JNU by right wing and casteist forces i.e. ABVP and NSUI in many places of JNU. Celebration of the Hindu festivals (in the name of celebrating Culture) is the act of enhancing and strengthening the caste system. Krishna, the god of Hindus who propagated Varna system in Bhagavadgita was an eve teaser and womanizer was celebrated and on the other hand, is shown as role model though he was the symbol of Patriarchy. Thus Celebrating Janmastami is the celebration of patriarchy and Varna system. When the Durga pooja celebration was made as a proposal there was a tough resistance from the progressive forces. But now the scenario has changed. Every party engaged in vote bank politics does not want to raise the issue of celebrating Hindu festivals in the supposed Secular campus, where even the Bhang (prepared from the leaves of Cannabis plant, which is banned in many countries) is allowed in mess during Holi. If this is the case, why no Beef and Pork is available in any single dhaba at JNU? Celebrating other minority festivals is different from celebrating Hindu festivals. Here in Hindu religion, the festivals are celebrated to continue the system of Brahminical order of caste system. But we have also seen a mysterious silence by the official left organizations in this campus regarding the Janmastami celebration and in the issue of beef and pork. Their vote bank politics and the brahminical nature might have stopped them from coming out openly against Janmastami celebration and in support of beef and pork issue. When we successfully conducted the public meeting on “The politics of food culture – The Holy cow and the unholy Swine” we saw the support of progressive students of this campus in a large number. In this situation a question arises of what is the need of conducting a food festival particularly of beef and pork. Why should we celebrate openly? Why it is in the educational institutions? Why at JNU?

When we asked many of the so called comrades about the celebration of beef and pork festival, they said that celebrating beef and pork festival is a sentimental issue. They advised us to cook beef or pork in our rooms and they promised us to join. So cooking beef and pork is in room is not sentimental but openly celebrating is problematic for them. Because the public sphere only belongs to the hegemonic culture that is Brahmanism. In India the public space is not yet public i.e. not for Muslims, Buddhists, Christians or any other religion but only for Hinduism. The Public space in India is private space for Hindu Brahminical forces and thus nobody else can enter into this “public space”. All the beef shops in India in many of the cities including Hyderabad are pushed into interior areas. Now the democratic space in India is shrinking and JNU as an institution is not an exception to it. Public Space is a powerful space that it should be characterized by the participation of all kinds of culture, all kinds of beliefs and all kinds of communities. The so called modern India is only an institutional India and that institutional India is brahminical as well. The newly constructed institutional India is only for the Brahminical culture and not for others. That is the reason that the fight with the brahminical forces is more bitter and tougher in the institutions. The Institutions are the place where the caste and communal become consolidated, as a ploy of the ruling class. Outside society is more progressive than the institutions.

Regarding Pork eating, last time we have seen a posters in the name of “Students against Beef and Pork” but posted by the Hindu fundamentalists forces. Here comes the question why they are so concerned about Pork? Because they are afraid that allowing pork will lead to beef also. When Prof. Kancha Iliah put a question towards the Muslim students that do they have any problem if students cook pork in the campus, in single voice all of them said “NO”. Pork is already served in this campus in “The North East Festivals” and “International Food Festivals”. So the Muslim friends do not have any problem in cooking pork in this campus, but the Hindu fundamentalists forces have. We should be very careful about the ploy of the Hindu fundamentalist’s forces that suddenly turned in to a godfather of supporting the right of the minorities. This is the foul play to separate the progressive forces and the minorities. We should be aware of it and should not give any chance to achieve their motive. So celebrating beef and pork eating is not a simple act of eating beef and pork in the institutions but as a symbolic act against the hegemony of Brahminism as Babasaheb Ambedkar took water from the pond was not a simple act of drinking water but to challenge the hegemony of caste system. This is to break the hegemony of Brahminism in the campus of JNU. 

THE POLITICS OF FOOD CULTURE “The Holy Cow and the Unholy Swine”

   

Hegemonic ideas of one group over another have always been a part of the class and caste oppression. Even food, which is the basic means of existence, is not devoid of it, especially so when we look at "the Politics of food culture in India". The so called secular Indian state though ideally should not discriminate against nor support any particular caste, creed, religion, race, gender, yet it makes a mockery of the very ideas that it promises to uphold. Coming to the question of food culture how does the Indian state justify its intervention in the food culture. Even when we look at our own campus, both beef and pork are considered as taboos. At this juncture we see a politics of silence from the progressive political parties of this campus who otherwise claim to fight for multiculture and democratic space of this campus. The Brahminical left in this campus in the name of secularism supports every religion instead of critiquing it. As Marx said, “Religion is the opium for the masses” the Indian Parliamentary left comfortably forgets this for their vote bank of the Majority Hindus and Minority Muslims. Secularism is not about celebrating Durga Pooja and participating in the Iftar Party, as the Indian Parliamentary left as well as the Bourgeois Parties do.  The three pillars which support the caste system are Brahminism, Religion, and the concept of God, (Periyar EVR) where the Indian parliamentary left is satisfied with attacking only the caste atrocities and upto an extent of attacking the Brahminism for sake of rising slogans.

Why pork is not available inside the JNU campus even in North East Dhaba? The Brahminical left in this campus scared of losing minority Muslim vote banks in their politics. On the other hand they only bring AFSPA and Irom Sharmila during the period of elections to show their support to North East as an eye wash and to get votes. But did they do anything literally to save the culture of North east as well as other parts of India inside this campus? Pork Eating is one of the integral cultural practices of North East and beef also except in the brahminised regions of North East. If JNU campus is a multicultural campus why only particular culture is hegemonizing the other Indian cultures and also with the support of the Brahminical mainstream Indian Left? The question of beef and pork eating is not only an issue of right to food but also comfortable for the working class to have inexpensive and high protein content to compensate their loss of energy. None of the Indian peasants want to kill their cows when it is profitable by way of giving milk. When the cow becomes old and useless, they cannot simply maintain it as it is unaffordable to them. In that time they sell it for butchering, not like the western countries which grow cows only for cow meat. Farmers, Dalits, Backward castes, Urban poor today prefers to eat inexpensive beef rather than going for the sky racketing vegetables, pulses and mutton. Denying these people’s right to go for their cheap food is literal Fascism.

The God of Rig Veda Indra had eaten tons of beef as said by many hymns in Rig Veda. The author of Ramayana Valmiki welcomed his guests by offering beef. The four Vedas said that the cow killed in ‘Goumeda’ yagya is sacred and should be shared among Brahmins respective of their status. Brahmins can eat the meat of the cow which was killed in the Yagya for the welfare of the world. Yagnyavalkya “mouthwaterly” describes the taste of young cow meat. So before banning the cow slaughtering and the beef eating, the four Vedas, Ramayana, puranas and Manu smiriti should be banned, because of their campaigning for beef eating. Due to Brahmins who received cows as a sacrificial fee (dakshina) and cow slaughtering Yagyas, the agriculture in the ancient India was about to fade. Thus the Buddhism and Jainism came against the Brahminic and Vedic rituals, and this is the reason for the celebration of both religions by the common people. Both religions were anti Brahministic and argued for vegetarianism. When the brahminism not only digested both the religions but also stolen the concept of vegetarianism. Even today the Kashmiri, Bengali and Deccan Brahmins eat non veg diet. There is a reason why the Brahminical forces today oppose beef eating. The Panchamas or the outcaste who lived outside the villages were commissioned and forced to eat the dead cows and do the menial jobs. On this basis they were discriminated in the name of birth and profession. Now brahminical forces are using beef eating as a weapon against muslim minorities also. One can say that in the politics of cow RSS has taken more tolls of human heads than the number of cows which were killed.

In the evolution of man from animal to human beings, the non veg diet helped a lot in the development of brain and body. In today’s world except the Brahmins and the upper caste Hindus the entire world is having beef and not only beef but whatever animal available. For example camel, dog, goat, rabbit etc are eaten according to the geographical climatic conditions as well as availability. There is no hierarchy between the non veg food. The Indian upper caste Brahmins who goes to Chicago city in US for computer jobs - where every day thousands of cows are slaughtered for beef. Can the Hindu right wing forces ban the migration of Hindus to America? When cow is sacred and holy then what about fish, cock, goat; where fish incarnation was taken by Lord Vishnu, cock as the vehicle of Lord Subbramanyan and goat was reared by Krishna along with cows respectively. When beef eating is prohibited how the caste Hindu and Brahmins can wear slippers made of cow skin. Even the god itself agreed to have child flesh, in Tamil siavite stories, what is the problem in having beef? When there is hatred against the muslims and discrimination against the dalits, the progressive person who oppose both the discrimination in the name of caste and minorities and to destroy caste system, should develop the habit of eating and cooking beef in their homes. If the cow is so holy and 33 crore gods are supposedly living in the body of the cow, why the hell Dalits are asked to carry the dead body of cow and burry it? Why not the gods who live in the earth (the Brahmins) the Sankaracharyas, the RSS Sangh parivar member do this? Protest against the ban of cow slaughtering and beef eating in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka!!!

There is no god. There is no god. There is no god at all.

He who created god was a fool!

He who propagates god is a scoundrel!

He who worships god is a barbarian!!

Forget God!!! Think about Man!!!

                                                    - Periyar E.V.Ramasamy