Tirupati Laddu controversy, beef tallow and the mockery of the Hindu idea of pure vegetarianism

It is also crucial to note that pure vegetarians do not impose their dietary preferences on others. Furthermore, they are not demanding or pressuring non-vegetarians to give up their food preferences; instead, they simply want to uphold their choice without harming or affecting others in any manner.

One of the aspects not touched on in the whole Tirupati Laddu controversy is the idea of “pure vegetarianism” and how the same is mocked and defamed, especially by those calling themselves ‘secular and liberal’. Over time, anyone demanding “pure vegetarian” environment is immediately attacked and branded as regressive and casteist. We have seen it multiple examples in recent times.

A few months back, Zomato had decided to introduce a “pure veg” fleet to deliver such orders, but the food delivery company had to withdraw the order after woke backlash that accused the company of aiding discrimination, casteism, regressive thoughts, and so on.

The online outrage soon turned into a blatant misinformation campaign where fake ‘advertisements’ of Zomato’s rival Swiggy started doing rounds, declaring how their service will keep the customers ‘eviction safe’ and even will protect the delivery partners from attack by non-existent goons over alleged ‘non-veg food’. Soon, Zomato had to take the decision back, declaring that their delivery partners would continue to wear the same uniform and there would be no change in box packaging indicating a ‘pure veg’ order.

Sudha Murthy, the former chairperson of Infosys Foundation, writer, and philanthropist was criticised last year by the same wokes/liberals for saying that carries her own bag of food and cooking items when travelling abroad because she is a pure vegetarian. She was even labelled a ‘casteist’ for being a pure vegetarian. These same wokes who accuse Brahmins of preserving and practising “untouchability” have over the years spearheaded vicious campaigns against Brahmins, ostracising them for their pure veg food and other lifestyle preferences.

Similarly, a group of students at IIT Bombay wanted a vegetarian corner for themselves in the institute mess, but their demands were opposed and students were defamed. The hate was at such a level that Suryakant Waghmare, a Professor of sociology at the same institute, equated the students to ‘militants‘.

In an opinion piece published in The Indian Express, Waghmare typically blamed the Hindu, more so the upper caste Hindu, for “militant vegetarianism” whose followers “seek to continually sustain the traditional ethics and aesthetics of segregation and hierarchy in food consumption”.

He even blamed such vegetarians, who he has implied are upper-caste Hindus, for citing environmental concerns as the reason for being vegetarians.

How veg-shaming is just a step away from becoming a blatant justification of sacrilege

While all such controversies about pure vegetarianism might look like only part of some “food wars”, it has an unintended outcome, such as the justification of “a little bit of beef tallow” in ghee that was used to make Tirupati Laddu prasadam.

Controversial ‘mythologist’ Devdutt Patnaik, who has been accused of distorting Hindu beliefs and practices by many, was one of the persons who tried to go down this path. “As per Google AI, ghee is animal fat. Pure Vegetarians disagree. Yes?” he posted on X, which he had to finally delete after facing backlash.

People could understand what he was coming to – that if ghee is also animal fat, what is wrong if some bit of beef tallow, a kind of animal fat only, finds its way into the ghee? He was essentially saying no big cause of concern if beef tallow is found in Tirupati Laddu prasadam.

Devdutta wasn’t alone. Many folks came up with such “arguments” if they can be called so, especially followers of Dravidian ideology that vows to eradicate Sanatan Dharma.

If we go by rational arguments and logic, beef tallow indeed is just ‘animal fat’ like ghee (the process of extraction obviously is far different). It is an ingredient used in cooking and is not a health hazard. You don’t consume actual morsels of beef if you eat some food that was cooked using oil or ghee where some amount of beef tallow was present. And using such arguments, “pure vegetarian” concerns can be mocked and proved to be silly, which is what the likes of Devdutt and Dravidians did.

However, these incidents shouldn’t just be seen as isolated incidents to “troll” vegetarians. The aim, always, is to strike the belief systems, to weaken the faith. You consider eating beef a sin, a social taboo, so they’re trying to normalize it so that your belief is diluted and finally drained away.

A lot of people eat both veg and non-veg food, while many prefer not to eat non-veg on specific days, and then some people do not eat non-veg food at all for religious beliefs like Ahimsa, or Satvik or for health-related reasons. The Brahmin-hating lot usually rattled over the “pure vegetarian” food preference of a section of people calling it discriminatory, encouraging untouchability, and whatnot completely ignores that these people are not forcing their preferences on others.

Hindus demanding the preservation of the sanctity of Tirupati Laddu prasadam is a matter of basic faith. Even the Hindus who eat non-veg food, which is normal practice for the majority of Hindus of India, do not take the non-veg food items to their Puja place in their homes. They practice certain rituals of cleanliness and keep certain food items away. No Hindu goes to a temple without bathing and wearing fresh, clean clothes. Most Hindus do not consume any non-veg during holy festivals like Navratri and the month of Shravan. The idea of using beef tallow or pork fat in Laddu prasadam is not about ‘food safety’ or the chemical properties of fat, it is about attacking the faith. ‘Secular liberals’ using the issue as another stick to beat the beliefs of Hinduism is not a flex, it is a sad example of how blatant hatred against a community is normalised.

It is also crucial to note that pure vegetarians do not impose their dietary preferences on others. Furthermore, they are not demanding or pressuring non-vegetarians to give up their food preferences; instead, they simply want to uphold their choice without harming or affecting others in any manner.

It is not a mockery coming from progressiveness or rationalism, often it’s a mockery that is coming from a sinister and vile agenda to weaken the faith and shame a community and culture that forms the civilisational fabric of India.