New Delhi: On the 78th Independence Day, the “freedom to eat” has become a flashpoint. Municipal bodies in Maharashtra and Telangana have ordered slaughterhouses and meat shops to shut on August 15—citing a 1988 civic resolution aimed at preserving the “sanctity” of national occasions.

The closures, enforced in Kalyan-Dombivli, Malegaon, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Hyderabad, ban the slaughter and sale of goat, sheep, chicken, and large-animal meat for 24 hours. Hyderabad will see a similar ban on Janmashtami the next day.

The directives have set off a fierce political row. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the GHMC order as “unconstitutional” and an assault on livelihood and food rights, noting that over 90% of Telangana’s population eats meat. In Maharashtra, NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad accused the BJP of hypocrisy, declaring, “On the day we celebrate freedom, you take away the freedom to eat what we want,” and announced a “mutton party” in defiance.

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis distanced his government from the decision, insisting, “We are not interested in deciding who eats what,” and blaming it on a decades-old municipal rule.

With opponents calling the move “dietary policing” and supporters defending it as tradition, the debate has turned the day meant to unite the nation into yet another political battleground.