"The vegetarian movement is an ancient movement and is not quite a modern one"
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Desai’s line reads like a mild correction, but it carries the authority move of a statesman: don’t treat this as a trendy lifestyle choice; treat it as inheritance. By calling vegetarianism “ancient,” he’s not just dating the practice, he’s relocating its legitimacy from the marketplace to civilization. The phrase “not quite a modern one” quietly punctures the self-congratulation that often comes with reform movements. It’s a way of saying: you’re not inventing virtue, you’re catching up to it.
That subtext fits Morarji Desai’s political persona and the India he governed. As prime minister in the late 1970s, he stood for austere, Gandhian-inflected discipline in a moment when Indian politics was trying to define itself after the Emergency. Vegetarianism, in that frame, isn’t a dietary preference; it’s a marker of moral self-rule, a rebuttal to both colonial caricatures and postcolonial consumerism. “Movement” is the key word: it turns private eating into public identity, yet “ancient” drains it of faddishness and makes it sound inevitable, even foundational.
There’s also a subtle boundary-setting at work. In India, vegetarianism is tied to religion, caste, and region; presenting it as ancient can sanitize those tensions by wrapping them in heritage. Desai’s intent isn’t to argue nutritional science. It’s to claim continuity and cultural prestige, positioning modern advocates as heirs rather than disruptors, and making tradition itself feel like a political mandate.
That subtext fits Morarji Desai’s political persona and the India he governed. As prime minister in the late 1970s, he stood for austere, Gandhian-inflected discipline in a moment when Indian politics was trying to define itself after the Emergency. Vegetarianism, in that frame, isn’t a dietary preference; it’s a marker of moral self-rule, a rebuttal to both colonial caricatures and postcolonial consumerism. “Movement” is the key word: it turns private eating into public identity, yet “ancient” drains it of faddishness and makes it sound inevitable, even foundational.
There’s also a subtle boundary-setting at work. In India, vegetarianism is tied to religion, caste, and region; presenting it as ancient can sanitize those tensions by wrapping them in heritage. Desai’s intent isn’t to argue nutritional science. It’s to claim continuity and cultural prestige, positioning modern advocates as heirs rather than disruptors, and making tradition itself feel like a political mandate.
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| Topic | Food |
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