Row over 'halal jaggery' in Sabarimala: BJP spokesperson cautions against boycotts

Just when the BJP was trying to amp up the 'Sabarimala halal jaggery' controversy, BJP spokesperson Sandeep G. Varier has struck a note of caution. “It would be good if Hindus, Christians and Muslims realise that they could not live in Kerala if they competitively impose economic sanctions on each other,” Varier said in a Facebook post.

The Kerala unit of the BJP had used the controversy to escalate the discourse to what it termed “halal terrorism”. There was a social media storm against the company that was supplying jaggery to Sabarimala. At a function organised in Thiruvananthapuram to protest against the death of a BJP worker in Palakkad, state president K. Surendran said, “In many places, terrorists are implementing their agenda in food and clothing. Various institutions in Kerala are being communalised. Halal hotels,

halal bakeries and now it has come to such a pass that even Sabarimala has been forced to use halal jaggery.”

Varier's post is a sharp rebuke of the sweeping generalisations that top BJP leaders were resorting to. “A Hindu works in a Muslim's company and a Muslim in a Hindu's. A quick social media post is enough for you to destroy an institution. But when this happens, pushed into hunger and poverty would be people from all religions. The auto-rickshaw driver who depends on the customers of this institution or the vegetable and milk vendors who supply to this institution and the agent who reaches the daily newspaper belong to various religions. There would be Ram, Rahim and Joseph among them,” Varier said.

He said that people should never lose sight of the fact that they live in a multicultural society. “I who had introduced to the world Abdul Salam's Cafe Makani (Cheruthuruthy, Thrissur) that supplied free food to Indian soldiers can talk only like this,” Varier said. “It is reason, and not passion, that should lead us forward,” he added.

There was also defiance in Varier's call for sanity. He put up his 'rebel' post right after the BJP state leadership had told him not to air his personal opinions on social media. State president K. Surendran

had warned Varier against stray and contradictory social media posts at a party meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on November 2.

A Sangh Parivar activist, S.J.R. Kumar, had gone to the Kerala High Court saying that the Travancore Devaswom Board was using halal-certified jaggery for preparing 'appam' and 'aravana', the two major offerings of the temple and also its biggest money spinners. The jaggery sacks supplied by a private company, S P Sugar & Agro Private Limited, had halal certification on the outside.

Kumar's contention was that jaggery prepared observing the rules of another religion could not be used in Sabarimala, which had a different set of customs and rituals.

In turn, the TDB had informed the High Court that the halal certification appeared on the sacks because the company was also exporting jaggery to Gulf countries where such a certification is mandatory. The TDB also told the court that the jaggery supplies were first tested for its quality by the food safety authority before it is used in the manufacture of 'appam' and 'aravana'. The final products, 'appam'

and 'aravana', are also subjected to another round of quality testing before they are offered to devotees.

Interestingly, S P Sugar & Agro Private Limited, which supplies jaggery to Sabarimala, is run by Patils and not Muslims. The company's directors are Suresh Sahebrao Patil, Sameer Suresh Patil, Sarita Suresh Patil and Swapnja Suresh Patil.

Halal means 'permissible' and a halal certificate is a stamp of religious purity attached to food products, especially meat, meant for the Muslim community. Islamic rules prescribe that animals and poultry that are meant for meat should be killed in a specific way; they should be killed in one cut and the entire blood should be drained out.

(This article was first published in onmanorama)