Modi's Meatless BRICS Dinner Draws Opposition Criticism — SkimNews
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- BRICS summit hosts in India served world leaders an entirely vegetarian menu featuring paneer simmered in gravy, Himalayan morel mushrooms with saffron, and lentil broth with tomatoes and curry leaves — with meat conspicuously absent.
- Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition in India's lower house of Parliament, criticized the menu on social media, arguing it misrepresented India's culinary landscape because most Indians are not vegetarian.
- Kiren Rijiju, a minister in Modi's government, rejected the criticism, saying the guests enjoyed vegetarian dishes reflecting India's "diverse regional traditions" and accused the Congress party of politicizing even the food menu.
- The article frames food as an increasingly sectarian and political flashpoint in India during Modi's tenure, noting his Hindu nationalist base and his government's steps to promote Hindu causes while sidelining Muslims and other groups.
- Vegetarianism carries particular religious and cultural associations among some Hindu communities, especially among upper castes and in parts of northern and western India, though many Hindus do eat meat.
Why it matters: The controversy exposes how cultural symbols like food have become a flashpoint in India's Hindu nationalist politics under Modi, with vegetarianism — historically associated with upper-caste Hindu traditions — promoted by his government while opposition figures frame such choices as misrepresenting India's largely non-vegetarian population. The BRICS dinner turned an international stage into a proxy for that domestic communal fault line.
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