'Decision In Place Since 1988': Fadnavis Clarifies Amid Row Over Independence Day Meat Ban

Last Updated:August 13, 2025, 21:04 IST

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cited a 1988 state government resolution empowering civic bodies to impose such restrictions

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis the state government is not interested in policing people's food choices. (Image: PTI/File)

After nearly half a dozen civic bodies in Maharashtra ordered closure of meat shops and abattoirs on Independence Day, the BJP made a clarification amid an intensifying controversy over the move.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cited a 1988 state government resolution (GR) empowering civic bodies to impose such restrictions. He said this is not a new decision and has been in place since 1988, also existing when the Uddhav Thackeray-led government was in power.

He said the state government is not interested in policing people’s food choices, but did not make it clear if the ban will be removed.

“This decision has been in place since 1988, we have not made any new decision. Even when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister, this decision existed, and it is still in place now. We have not taken any new decision," Fadnavis told reporters.

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Municipal corporations in Nagpur, Nashik, Malegaon, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Kalyan-Dombivli have issued orders directing closure of slaughterhouses and meat shops within their jurisdiction on August 15. Some of them have said these facilities will remain shut on certain other days, too, in view of Hindu and Jain festivals.

He, however, asserted that the state government was not interested in regulating people’s food choices and described the row over abattoir closures on Independence Day as an “unnecessary" controversy.

“The state government is not interested in (knowing) who eats what. We have many other issues to address," he said.

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The Ajit Pawar-led NCP, which is a part of the ruling Mahayuti government, has questioned the closure of meat shops on August 15 even as opposition parties criticised the move.

The BJP, however, said the policy to keep abattoirs shut on Independence Day was originally framed by the Congress government then led by Shankarrao Chavan in 1988 and first implemented when NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar took over as chief minister.

“Within a month in 1988, Sharad Pawar became the chief minister and implemented the policy for the first time," state BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said.

Upadhye asked NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, who have opposed the closure, if they will question Sharad Pawar about the policy.  He said during the MVA government (November 2019 to June 2022), in which both Awhad and Thackeray were ministers, the same practice continued without any protest from them.

“Will they seek a response from Sharad Pawar for taking such a decision back then? Will they criticise him too? Awhad and Thackeray should respond to it now," he said. “Both (Awhad and Thackeray) have lost their (original) parties and government. Therefore, they are depressed and find fault with any decision to target the state government."

News politics 'Decision In Place Since 1988': Fadnavis Clarifies Amid Row Over Independence Day Meat Ban

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