Maharashtra Chief Minister Encouraged by PETA India to Rename Mutton Street ‘Ahimsa Marg’ in Honour of Mahatma Gandhi
Ahead of Gandhi Jayanti, PETA India sent a letter to Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Eknath Sambhaji Shinde requesting that he rename Mumbai’s Mutton Street to “Ahimsa Marg” in a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi Jayanti, observed on 2 October, is also globally recognised as the International Day of Non-Violence. In the letter, PETA India notes that the street name has a colonial past and is associated with the meat trade, which contradict Gandhi ji’s values of non-violence and vegetarian eating.
In the letter, PETA India points out, “The renaming might also discourage the presence of stolen goods in the area – it is rumoured that such items end up there and the street is known locally as Chor Bazaar – and attract vegan food hawkers and other vegan businesses, which would encourage tourists and locals alike to frequent the site.”
The letter quotes Gandhi ji as saying, “To my mind the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. … I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.”
Killing animals for meat causes violence on a massive scale. Chickens are often shackled upside down before their throats are slit, and goats are forcefully pinned down while their throats are cut with knives. Cows and buffaloes are crammed into vehicles in such large numbers their bones often break before they’re dragged off to a slaughterhouse, and pigs are stabbed in the heart as they scream. On the decks of fishing boats, fish suffocate or are cut open while they’re still alive.
In addition, eating meat and other animal-derived foods has been linked to heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and obesity, and rearing and killing animals for food has been linked to a multitude of zoonotic diseases like bird flu, swine flu, and COVID-19. And a United Nations report concluded that a global shift towards vegan eating is necessary to combat the worst effects of the climate catastrophe.
