IRCTC Staff Responds After, Passenger Gets Angry Over Halal-Certified Tea Served On Indian Railways

Love and solidary for one’s religion is never a bad thing. However, if you do so often at the expense of other religions then it gets termed as communalism. Which is detrimental to the unity of a diverse nation like India? Indeed very detrimental. A video has been surfacing on the internet that showcases how a man starts protesting and arguing with a Railway official for offering tea packs with halal certification on the train. To say that the footage of this debate between the passenger and railway official has created a huge spark on Twitter would not be so wrong.

A train passenger objects serving on Halal certified tea packs, says, “Sawan ka mahina chal raha hai…”

A video has been surfacing on the internet that showcases how a passenger and Indian railway official are engaged in a debate. Shot by the passenger himself, the video portrays the passenger asking the railway official why his packet of tea masala is marked with halal certification. He can be seen saying as we quote,

“Sawan ka mahina chal raha hai, aap halal chai pila rahe hain (The holy month of Sawan is going on and you are making us drink halal chai)”

In Hinduism, the month of Sawan which falls in the months of July and August holds great religious significance. During this whole month, a plethora of Hindus observe fast and exempt themselves from eating non-veg food items. They only eat simple vegetarian food items, especially fruits once the sun sets down.

Now, witnessing the halal certification on the tea packs made the man believe that it might contain non-vegetarian items. Therefore, he starts protesting and telling the railway official to not do this.

The Railway official tries to calm the passenger, saying, “Chai vegetarian hi hota hai, sir”

Trying to remove the suspicion of the passenger the Railway official told him that the tea pack is absolutely vegetarian. He even pointed his finger toward the green dot on the tea pack which denotes the product is vegetarian. However, it still did not calm the passenger down. All he did was kept on asking why the halal certification is there on the tea packs in the first place.

In this viral video clip, we can see what the passenger says to the railway official as we quote,

“I don’t want any religious certification. You should look into this.”

To which the railway official replied,

“Pure veg hai sir. Chai vegetarian hi hota hai.”

⁦@AshwiniVaishnaw⁩ ⁦@RailMinIndia⁩ ⁦@IRCTCofficial⁩ why Halal certified products are being served to Hindus? Please stop this.. ⁦@narendramodi⁩ ⁦@AmitShah⁩ ⁦@PMOIndia⁩ ⁦@HMOIndia⁩ pic.twitter.com/qlp0JV5Z4c

— Poonam (@poonam_thukral) July 19, 2023

What does Halal actually mean?

Halal refers to food produced in accordance with Islamic dietary laws and guidelines, signifying that it is permissible for Muslim consumption. While vegetarian food may not contain animal products, some vegetarian items might still be considered non-halal. As a result, the halal mark is provided to ensure compliance with Islamic principles.

It nonetheless hurt the sentiments of the passenger who believed that no religious certifications should be there on food items served on the train. However, the viral video clip on Twitter has created a huge spark. Netizens are condemning the passenger for his bigotry. They wrote “There is plenty of information on food items that are irrelevant to humans. Why is it bothering you so much? Stop being big and learn to be inclusive.” But was he really being a bigot? Or was he not? It is a question of a plethora of opinions.

What are your thoughts on this latest controversy? Do share your thoughts via the comments below.