Arunachal Pradesh orders removal of word ‘beef’ from Itanagar restaurants

According to the order, the district administration of Itanagar Capital Region believes that the open display of the word ‘beef’ on the signboards of hotels and restaurants may hurt the sentiments of some sections of the community and may create animosity between groups.

The magistrate in Arunachal Pradesh’s capital, Itanagar, has ordered the removal of the word beef from restaurants in the city, citing religious issues.

The order said that the district administration of Itanagar Capital Region believes in the secular spirit of the Indian Constitution but such open display of the word ‘beef’ on the signboards of hotels and restaurants may hurt the sentiments of some sections of the community and may create animosity between different groups.

Clarifying the now viral order directing all hotels and restaurants to remove signboards with the word ‘beef’ on them, the extra assistant commissioner (EAC) of Naharlagun town, Tamo Dada, on Thursday said the order was issued by his office as a “preventive measure so that the people do not make a religious issue out of it in the future”.

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“The people should not get confused with the order as there is no ban on beef consumption,” Dada said, adding that a verbal complaint was received from “a group of people stating that such signboards hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindu community”.

The EAC, however, did not divulge any details about the “group of people” who filed the complaint.

Reasoning that the “open display of the word ‘beef’ on the signboards of such hotels and restaurants may hurt the sentiments of some sections of the community”, Tamo Dada stated that a group of concerned local citizens complained to him about the “mushrooming” of such beef eateries in the Naharlagun administrative sub-division could potentially hurt ”some sections the community.”