Beef consumption allegations hurt actress-party candidate in north India

Allegations that she has a history of eating beef cast a shadow over the campaign of the Bollywood actress and candidate of India’s ruling Hindu Nationalist Party in legislative elections that begin on the 19th of this month.

Actress Kangana Ranaut, the candidate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been at the center of a controversy for days that the media has dubbed a “squabble” after political rivals called the celebrity-turned-politician a “meat eater.”

“They accuse me of eating meat, I asked for proof, but then they told me that they had nothing to do with it. They also said that I am unclean and have no character,” Ranaut said during the election campaign. rally in Kullu district in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, where the actress is vying for a parliamentary seat.

Known as the “valley of the gods”, Kullu has a predominant culture of deities, with one Hindu god per village, following specific traditions and rituals that have existed for centuries.

The charges against Arnaut carried over into the election, which is dominated by Hindu religious sensitivities that consider the cow a sacred animal.

“Himachal Pradesh is the holy place of the gods, the land of the gods. People who eat cow meat should not participate in elections. This is an issue that concerns our culture, which has nothing to do with politics,” he said on Facebook. The main rival in the region is Vikramaditya Singh of the Congress Party (CP) of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

The BJP is at the forefront of a religious nationalist movement that has put the world’s largest democracy at a turning point as it moves national politics further away from the secular spectrum and toward a state that owes its existence to Hindus.

According to the Election Commission of India (CEI), the legislative elections will be held from the 19th of this month in seven phases until June 1, with the counting of votes expected to begin three days later.

CIS President Rajeev Kumar emphasized that voting is a gigantic manifestation of democracy, the world’s largest electoral movement of people and materials, for which more than 5.5 million electronic voting machines will be mobilized.

There are around 970 million voters in India’s electoral roll and the number of polling stations will be around 1.1 million.

This is a new world record for the Asian country, surpassing the already historic 916 million voters called out for the 2019 general election.

Kumar said the election authorities will use boats, helicopters, horses, elephants and other vehicles to reach all voters.

More than 1,200 parties will be able to take part in these elections to elect representatives to the lower house, and with it the political forces to appoint a new Prime Minister of India.

Modi is seeking to extend his mandate for the third time in a row and is the favorite to win.