If Nagaland is called ‘land of dog meat’, so be it: RPP

Kohima: Amid the controversy over a Tamil Nadu DMK leader’s comment about dog meat consumption by the Naga people, Nagaland’s Rising People’s Party (RPP) said that if Nagaland is called the “land of dog meat eaters” so be it.

The party said that Nagas eating dog meat is part of their cultural heritage, and there is nothing to be ashamed of.

RPP highlighted that an anthropologist and British Raj Administrator in the then Naga Hills of Assam, JH Hutton, who extensively documented dog eating habits among the Nagas in his seminal books.

“The fact of the matter is most Nagas eat dog meat and so if our state has earned the sobriquet, ‘The land of dog meat eaters’ so be it,” they said.

RPP also said that when Home Minister Amit Shah proposed to impose his ideology of beef ban in India, many communities stridently opposed the move, and it was shelved. 

“Today many self-styled organisations particularly the Maneka Gandhi-led People for Animals want to stamp their ideology upon the Naga people. The People for Animals, Nagaland Chapter, should realize that whether it’s beef or dog ban, such agenda are part of the greater ideological battle in India’s political and cultural landscape, and they should stop being pawns and puppets,” the party said.

RPP goes on to say that gullible Nagas leading People for Animals, Nagaland Chapter, desperately want to ban dog meat in the state not realising the “insidious agenda” of their masters in Delhi – people who profess to be ‘clean/unpolluted’ and ‘veg’ with their stated goal of ‘purifying’ or ‘cleansing’ Naga tribals and other minorities of their ‘impurity’. 

The RPP said that the issue is not a small matter. “It’s part of the larger “One nation, One Culture” agenda to “Sanskritize” all the minority peoples and cultures within Bharat,” the party said.

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Further, RPP added, “Instead of approaching the courts, the Rising People’s Party dares the People for Animals, Nagaland Chapter, to lobby Maneka Gandhi in passing a legislation in the Indian Parliament”.

While claiming that the RPP is focused on good governance, the party said that the bigger picture of “Identity Politics” is too dangerous to be ignored. 

Also Read | Nagaland Guv condemns DMK leader’s ‘dog-eaters’ remark