I think most communal violence in India stems from negative perceptions of the other's food habits.
The communal violence and religious segregation problems are quite serious in vegetarian Hindu/Jain dominated states such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand, parts of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka etc. These states are dominated by militant vegetarian communities that don't even eat eggs, and some won't even eat onion/garlic etc. Many Hindu/Jain religious customs practiced in these states revolve around ritual fasting, temple visits.
Many Hindus who do eat meat in Northern India (only chicken and mutton at the most) are often against Halal slaughter. They think it's unnecessarily cruel, and a bloodsport. Some Hindus have lately started eating pork to antagonize Muslims although they never did in the past as pork is just not a part of mainstream Indian cuisine. It's a whole new rabbit hole of poison which is compounding each year, each day BJP remains in office the problem is getting worse. At least when Congress was in power, these negative beliefs remained buried in one's closet. Now it's all out in the open.
On the other hand, Indian Muslims must sacrifice a goat for Qurbani (they are unable to sacrifice a cow, bull or calf anymore but I guess, buffalo is still legal) - the Hindus fail to understand the significance of this rituals, and why Muslims are doing it. They haven't heard of Abraham or Ishmael, or any other stories. So when Pakistani posters on here talk about those things, it bounces right off their heads.
According to Hindu theology as practised in these states, only
Asuras (demons) will consume meat with so much gusto. That is the exact thought process that governs the minds of tens of millions of Hindus, all of whom are BJP voters = their core base.
In the worldview of such Hindus, the Muslims are committing and accumulating serious sins by murdering the animals for their rituals. The word "
non vegetarian" in India is not just used for food habit preferences but also a way of life which is unclean, and impure. According to the communalized vegetarian Hindus and Jains of Brahmin, Kshtriya, and Banya class, Muslims since they must eat non-vegetarian, are unclean and impure by definition. Amusingly, p*rn videos are often labelled as "non-veg videos".
Never mind that in states such as West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, etc. many Hindus eat non-vegetarian products. Also all tribals in India eat meat. The real percentage of vegetarians in India is not more than 40%, but that is also the BJP's vote share.
So, basically India is being held hostage by the most rabid supporters of PETA = on steroids.
@xeuss your thoughts on this? Don't have to answer if this topic cuts very close, and brings back any unpleasant memories.
