In his seminal work on politics and social change in India in the late 1950s, social anthropologist Fred G. Bailey categorised political parties to be of mainly two types: ‘parties of integration’ and ‘parties of representation’. Parties of representation would be concerned mostly with elections and otherwise lie dormant in the period between elections. Parties of integration on the other hand are much more constricting, Bailey said, “working like a python, swallowing the entire lives of its members.”
Parties of integration were not merely concerned with electoral victory and political power, but were keen to use these to control all aspects of the lives of their members and supporters, eventually forming a one-party government. Such parties usually achieve total control over the governed by regulating what citizens see, hear, read (via propaganda and a compliant media) and even eat. The recent ban on the sale of meatand fish in open/public spaces in the urban areas, enforced by the NDA government led by BJP in Bihar is a reminder of what this ‘total control’ looks like. Initially cloaked as a step towards making cities of Bihar cleaner, the controlling aspects of this recent legislation became more open from the public statements of a deputy chief minister, who claimed that the sale of meat and fish near educational institutions gives rise to “violent tendencies” among kids.
Following the pattern of meat bans of various natures, from partial or localised enforcements restricted to religious places or timed around festivals in different states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam, Odisha and Jharkhand, the ban in Bihar is also seeking to minimise the visibility of meat and fish shops in public spaces - with a complete removal of open shops and allowing only licensed shops to operate but with severe restrictions on their appearance and conduct. The fact that most of these bans have been enforced or attempted in BJP-ruled states is indicative of the way in which the party not only wants to control dietary habits but also engage in moral policing by constantly challenging the norms of cultural purity and pollution.
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BY Outlook News Desk |
