No One Can be Stopped From Eating Non Veg Food: Guj BJP Chief Clarifies Amid Row

Paatil sought to clarify that only food carts which come in the way of smooth flow of traffic are being removed.

Representative picture of a meat shop

(Photo: iStock/ Altered by The Quint)

As Ahmedabad became the fourth city in Gujarat to decide that food stalls selling non-vegetarian food will not be allowed on main roads, continuing a row that erupted last week, state BJP chief CR Paatil on Tuesday, 16 November, clarified that only food carts which come in the way of smooth flow of traffic in different cities are being removed.

"No one has taken such a decision. People are entitled to eat what they want and BJP will never try to stop it. Reason for removal could be something else and not because they were selling veg or non-veg food," he said, according to news agency ANI.

Paatil added that people have the right to eat what they want and nobody can stop them.

"If they (food stall owners) don’t maintain hygiene, they can face appropriate action. But BJP will never think of stopping them or removing them. They are poor people whose lives depend on this. We will try to help them no matter who it is, selling whatever," Paatil said, according to The Indian Express.

There is one minister who had said that there is encroachment of footpaths because of these carts, because of which they should be removed, Paatil said.

"But he (the minister) as well as all the (city) mayors have been told that there is no plan to stop them," the BJP chief added, saying that "no such decision will be implemented as municipal corporations, which have sought to ban, have been informed to avoid taking such decisions."

On Tuesday, over 40 food carts — selling both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food — were seized amid what is now being claimed to be an “anti-encroachment drive”, while several others stayed off the roads, reported The Indian Express.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had earlier opposed the assertions directed at non-vegetarian food, and said that the state administration was unbothered about what people ate, but this was a matter of hygiene and roadside encroachments.

"It is not a question of vegetarian and non-vegetarian. People are free to eat whatever they want. But the food being sold at stalls should not be harmful and the stalls should not obstruct traffic flow," Patel stated, ANI reported.

The CM had also said local civic bodies could take decisions on removing food carts if they hamper road traffic.

"Local municipal corporations or municipalities take decisions to remove food carts. They can do so if they are obstructing traffic on city roads," he said.

(With inputs from The Indian Express and ANI.)