The realm of food in the Indian subcontinent could not escape the erroneous Brahmanical notions of ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’.

The upper class and caste, with their elite standpoints of being ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’ do not seem to realize how the roots of this ideology in India have been shaped by the Manusmriti and Hindu codes of conduct. If this was not enough, the propagation of this idea by the government institutions and mainstream culture makes it worse for the Bahujans of the nation, because animal meat and the food otherwise stated ‘impure’ happens to be an extensive part of their diets.

Vegetarianism, since the olden days, had been linked with the idea of being ‘pure’ hence ‘superior’ in the caste hierarchy. On the other hand, to maintain their caste hegemony on Dalits, Muslims, and the minorities who consumed meat were claimed to be ‘impure’ hence ‘inferior’. It had nothing to do with ‘animal rights’.

In fact, the upper castes claiming to be the flag bearers of ‘animal protection’ today seem to not know about the nefarious deeds of their ancestors for who animal sacrifices (especially of cows) were a very common practice in the Vedic Era. From The Mahabharata to Valmiki’s Ramayana, instances of animal slaughter by the brahmins could very easily be spotted. Hence, such claims are hypocrite.

The rise of Buddhism is what made Brahmins give up beef-eating to retain their moral consciousness.
Dr. Ambedkar in ‘The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables?’ wrote:
“The clue to the worship of the cow is to be found in the struggle between Buddhism and Brahmanism and the means adopted by Brahmanism to establish its supremacy over Buddhism. If the Brahmins had acted from conviction that animal sacrifice was bad, all that was necessary for them to do was to give up killing animals for sacrifice.”
Vegetarianism is a political topic. Embracing veganism and vegetarianism is easy for the privileged sitting in their bungalows sipping wine who can afford Vitamin B12 tablets but not for the communities doing labour extensive work whose source protein comes from fish they catch and eggs they get in midday meals.