QUESTION: How do you see the beef ban that has come into force in Karnataka? Nehru is supposed to have said that the eating rules of the kitchen of the high caste are being imposed upon on all the people. Are governments forcing us to be vegetarians? Has any bishop given a press statement on this?
ANSWER: This move of the Karnataka government has caused great inconvenience to a number of people and the motives behind it are suspect. It has been pointed out that the very same people who are behind the cow slaughter ban are involved in the export of beef. Regimenting peoples’ eating habit does not augur well for our democracy. In a democracy, people should be free to choose what they want to eat, and that should not be regimented by the likes or dislikes of any particular section of society. Besides the imposition of vegetarianism, probably there are also commercial and political interests behind this move. We have not issued any press statement. We are sensitive to the sentiments of vegetarians, and so we do not tell them to eat meat, but if somebody opts to eat beef, why should they object to it? There are so many other serious problems in the country like unemployment, poverty, pandemic, etc that require the urgent attention of the government. Possibly, this could be a diversionary tactic.

Bp Henry D’Souza
Bellary