Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Thursday slammed the ban on selling meat on Independence Day and directed his party workers to defy it. Targeting the Jain community, the MNS chief also insisted that the ban on feeding pigeons should be respected by all.“On a day we celebrate freedom, people’s freedom is being taken away. The government should not decide who should eat what,” Thackeray said on Thursday. The MNS chief’s remarks came after several municipal corporations in Maharashtra banned the sale of meat on Independence Day and also warned to take action against violating the ban. According to their directives, all slaughterhouses and shops of licensed butchers of goats, sheep, chickens and large animals must remain closed for 24 hours from midnight of August 14 till midnight of August 15. Mr. Thackeray said he had instructed MNS workers to ensure that meat sales go ahead on Thursday. “I have asked them not to follow the ban. Banning something on Independence Day is a big contradiction. Independence Day and Republic Day are two important days for us. How can you ban something on these two days? The government does not need to tell what someone should eat,” he said. Linking the meat ban to what he called divisive policies by the BJP, Mr. Thackeray cited the state government’s encouragement of pigeon feeding and its bid to introduce compulsory Hindi at the primary level in schools. “Such measures do not unite people, they divide them,” he said. Targeting the Jain committee, the MNS chief also insisted that the ban on feeding pigeons should be respected by all. “Jain monks must also understand the dangers posed by pigeons. Doctors have explained the diseases they cause. There is a High Court decision regarding Kabutarkhanas. If anyone violates the ban on feeding them, the police should take action. Those who protested against the closure at Dadar should also have faced police action,” he said. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has clarified that the decision to ban meat sell on Independence Day was taken by the Congress government in 1988 and it is implemented every year. “I can show the 1988 government resolution and similar orders issued by municipal corporations even when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister. But the opposition is making it a political issue now because they think it can help them in civic elections. But they are going to fail,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
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