By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI 

Palitana, a pilgrim city in western Indian state Gujarat, is one of the holiest sites for adherents of the ancient Jain religion. The city's population is only 65,000 but its importance for Jains had recently made it the center of controversy.

Palitana officials declared the city a "vegetarian-only" zone on August 14, completely banning the sale of meat or eggs and the slaughter of animals within the municipality's limits. That decision has upset many of the city's non-vegetarian residents, including the Muslims who make up a quarter of its population. 

"We have been living in this city for decades and even these Jain temples have been in existence for years. It is wrong to impose a ban on sale of meat now. The sacred Jain temples on the hills are quite far from the main city," said Syed Jahangir Miyan, a local religious scholar. "There are so many people living in this city and majority of them are non-vegetarian. Stopping them from eating non-vegetarian diet is against their right to eat food according to their choice."

The decision is defended by adherents of Jainism, who say the ban protects one of the fundamental tenets of their religion. It came about when 200 Jain monks organizer a hunger strike in June but which was called off when the Gujarat government assured their demands for a ban on the sale of meat products would be met. 

"Jain religion is based on the principle of compassion towards all living beings, whether big or small. All living creatures on the Earth, whether humans or animals, have been bestowed the right to live by the God," said Jain monk Virat Sagar Maharaj. "That is why we want a complete ban on killing of animals."

Jain's follow a diet of strict vegetarianism -- which happens to also exclude onions and garlic -- because of their strong belief in the principle of non-violence. They consider the killing of any animal an act of violence which must be avoided. 

Sridhar Sagar, a Jain who was visiting Palitana from New Delhi, said the selling of meat in the city is not a new concern. 

"We saw that meat was being sold at a number of places in the city, which is against the teachings of our religion. We always wanted a complete ban on non-veg food in this holy site," said Sagar. 

Some however, believe that the move was less a result of facilitating the traditions of Jainism and more about political consideration. Ajit Sahi, a political analyst, accused Gujarat's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of exploiting cultural differences -- something that has become a concern for many Indian minorities since the party's election to government in May. 

"Government authorities wanted to create rift between followers of different religions through such tactics. They have been doing this for long in order to derive political mileage and nothing else," said Sahi.

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