As India enters its 79th year, the questions of who the Republic belongs to and who belongs in the country stare its citizens in the face in multiple ways. The day has somehow come to be one of enforced vegetarianism, with several municipal bodies across the country ordering the closure of meat shops. The simple freedom to eat what is a normal part of traditional diets has thus been taken away from Indians in those areas who eat non-vegetarian food – ironically, on Independence Day.
