Temptations Of The Flesh

The vegetarian lobby, backed by the moneyed Gujarati, Jain and Rajasthani communities, has been upping the ante on its drive for ‘cleansed’ neighbourhoods. There’s usually nothing on paper, but buildings dominated by these communities have supposedly turned away non-vegetarians—Christians, Muslims or meat-eating Hindus. Some are asking buyers to submit an undertaking declaring their vegetarianism. In Gujarati-dominated Walkeshwar, residents had forced a non-veg restaurant, Roti, to shut shop. Another casualty was the local Domino’s outlet.

As the "struggle" snowballs, friends find themselves on opposite sides. The bjp’s constituency of ‘pure veg’ Gujarati Jains and Rajasthanis are fighting Sena’s supporters who are largely non-veg Marathis. The issue reached a flashpoint with developers in Parel trying to shift a fish market in this Sena stronghold to make way for a new "vegetarians-only" building.