McDonald’s is currently facing Hindu protests for plans to open restaurants in two of India’s most reserved religious areas. Due to the population’s religion and dietary, these McDonald’s will be vegetarian. One of the sites being Katra in Jammu and Kashmir, is where one of Hinduism’s four holiest shrines, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, is situated. Cows are sacred to Indians and McDonald’s slaughter millions of them every year for their menu. The other, Amritsar, the centre of the Sikh religion in Punjab. Also, home of the Golden Temple. Sikhs are may eat meat, however their temples serve only vegetarian food.
There is a vigorous ten-mile climb to get to the golden Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, situated high in the Himalayan foothills. The hike, itself, to Hindus, is an act of purification. Upon arriving at the top, many must wait up to 20 hours for their darshan – viewing of the ‘Mother Goddess’.
Many of these pilgrims will be exhausted from their climb or wait. McDonald’s hopes they will feast in their restaurants as a result. McDonald’s opening of vegetarian restaurants is trying to win over resistant people who are restricted to a specific dietary. However, McDonald’s is associated with cow slaughter and yet they are still trying to make money off these religious Indians.