Hindu groups in UK call for withdrawing ‘non-veg’ £5 note

Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB), an umbrella group of Hindu organisations and temples in the UK, has called on the Bank of England to withdraw the new 5-pound note from circulation because it uses animal fat.

HFB said it was convinced the move was not “malicious” but a result of “ignorance” and called for the notes to be made “Karma-free” at the earliest.

“Saving and sharing wealth (the Goddess of fortune) in currency tainted by unnecessary harm to animals is somewhat of an oxymoron,” said Shree Gauridas, spiritual commissioner of HFB and a director of the UK’s ISKCON temple. 

The group has been encouraging people to sign a petition calling for the withdrawal of the notes as vegans and vegetarians continued to express outrage at the use of tallow, a substance derived from animal fat, which emerged in a Twitter response earlier this week. A petition titled “Remove tallow from bank notes” has gathered nearly 126,000 signatures. It will be delivered to the Bank of England when it hits 150,000.

It reads, “The new 5 pound notes contain animal fat in the form of tallow. This is unacceptable to millions of vegans and vegetarians in the UK. We demand that you cease to use animal products in the production of currency that we have to use.” 

The new notes with an image of Britain’s war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill became legal tender in September.