Jet's Vegetarian Flight

Jet Airways has stopped offering non-vegetarian food to desi passengers on board its flights bound for Gujarat. Gujarat is a hardcore veg state and even McDonalds had to do away with non-veg burgers in its outlets in Gujarat. McD outlets in Gujarat could be the only "Pure Veg" outlets of McD in the entire world. Its not sure whether Jet Airways did away with non-veg food on its own or because of some external pressure.

Racial discrimination has touched the Indian skies too, albeit with a difference. On Jet Airways flights from Mumbai to Gujarat, non-vegetarian food—which the airline calls an ‘upgraded’ meal is served only to the white-skinned. If you are an Indian and have opted for a non-vegetarian meal, you either have to argue with the cabin crew and hope that you get lucky or make do with the vegetarian fare.

I guess they would start offering non-veg food in inbound / outbound flights from Gujarat after this issue has come out in the public domain.

Update: Shashikant points me to a news article which says that Jain shareholders of Reliance dumped the Reliance stock after coming to know that the newly launched Reliance Fresh (Reliance Retail) plans to stock non-veg food products in its stores.

The new element this time was a sudden burst of selling by the Jain community, which traditionally refuses to invest in companies dealing in non-vegetarian food or any industry that involves animal slaughter or processing. Their selling was triggered by reports that Reliance Retail planned to stock non-vegetarian food at its malls.

The company quietly clarified non-vegetarian food will not be sold within Reliance retail malls, but through a separate company that will be given its own space adjacent to each mall. Despite the assurance, its brokers had to work hard to sell this strategy to Jain investors by pointing out how they do not, after all, refuse to wear leather shoes or sit next airline passengers who eat non-vegetarian.