Meatless Days In UP

Visitors to Meerut city in ­Uttar Pradesh these days will be surprised by a strange sight. It is perhaps a sign of the times that the city바카라�s meat retailers바카라�the handful still in business바카라�are being made to do something they ­never had to before. They are being told to cover their shopfronts, concealing from public view their supplies, raw or cooked. The retailers바카라�largely Qureshi Muslims바카라�have scrambled to submit to the rule, hastily throwing curtains or woollen blankets across their storefronts. This, they say, is the only way to stay in business during the Yogi Adityanath government바카라�s crackdown on ostensibly illegal abattoirs.

This injunction, however, has not made the meat shops invisible, as the government had perhaps hoped. Instead, concealed under bright pink blankets or blue chiks, they have become even more conspicuous. Covered facades single out 바카라�non-vegetarian바카라� shops from other establishments. Such segregation is known to  have had fraught meanings elsewhere in the world. 바카라�At least our shops are open. Almost all others have closed,바카라� says Firoz, whose family owns two chicken and mutton shops at Begum Pul in Meerut. He counts himself among a lucky few.

This is happening not only in Meerut, but also in Hapur, Khurja, Bulandshahr, Allahabad and Lucknow. Everywhere, those who sell chicken, mutton, fish or buffalo meat are being told to 바카라�go legit바카라� or close shop. Going legit implies not just having all the requisite licences, but also assuring the authorities that they will cover up their shopfronts. Police and district officials are also insisting on glass windows, air coolers, air conditioners and other modern parapher­nalia in meat shops.

바카라�The administration broke my shopfront, saying I have encroached,바카라� says B.B. Ram, a 70-year-old whose pork shop is also at Begum Pul. 바카라�We have been here for three generations, 150 years, but I am being told to cover up for the first time.바카라�

Ever since UP barred 바카라�illegal바카라� slaughterhouses, Muslims바카라�and many Hindus바카라�are being reminded of what the BJP had promised in its manifesto: illegal and mechanised slaughterhouses will be closed. So, while the central government grants meat export licences only to mechanised abattoirs, in UP it no longer matters whether they are legal or not. No wonder it바카라�s not just the ret­ailers who are nervous, but also meat ­exporters, most of them Qureshis again. Dalits, who dominate the animal hide business, are also majorly affected as their trade is umbilically linked with the meat business.

바카라�In the assembly election, the BJP cleverly managed to isolate the Dalits and Muslims politically,바카라� says Satish Prakash, Dalit ideologue and professor at Meerut College. 바카라�And after coming to power, their first step has been to use against these two groups the strength they have gained from this strategy. In the name of legalising slaughterhouses, the BJP is weakening the Muslims economically. The party is also worried as the Dalit hide traders are the same people who, 50 years ago, brought the Ambedkar movement to Agra from Maharashtra. Those old caste wars have become today바카라�s economic wars.바카라�

The most profitable aspect of the meat business is exporting it, largely to the Middle East. The annual turnover of meat exports is Rs 2.50 lakh crore, while leather exports account for another Rs 40,000 crore. Around 65 per cent of India바카라�s meat and leather originates in UP. The Qureshis control around 40 per cent of this business, which is the only means of livelihood for 1-1.5 crore people of the community. Jains and Hindus too figure in the meat export chain, in various roles such as livestock farmers, mandi owners, livestock financiers, exporters and packaging-­unit owners. However, it is the Qureshis who have made their presence felt. The business has created a burgeoning Qureshi middle class and sent many to the higher echelons in the political and economic spheres.

바카라�We didn바카라�t expect this kind of action against slaughterhouses from the UP government because PM Narendra Modi always talked about 바카라�sabka saath, sabka vikas바카라�,바카라� says Sirajuddin Qureshi, president of the India Islamic Cultural Centre and MD, Hind Group of Companies. Instead, they have caused us huge losses. Similarly, CM Adityanath delivered a good oath-taking speech, saying he will pursue the PM바카라�s agenda and there would be no divisiveness. There will be widespread unemployment and hunger if slaughterhouses are shut. Even licensed ones are being closed. There should at least be a scheme for rehabilitation.바카라�

Two decades ago, the Qureshis were mostly workers in meat processing or small halal stores, but they have come a long way today. Now, their leadership is under severe pressure from the community to resolve the crisis. Sirajuddin has written to the PM on their behalf and also met the CM, who assured that lic­ensed traders will not be 바카라�troubled바카라�. The traders also want new municipal slaughterhouses that meet the regulations.

UP바카라�s meat retailers once had access to municipal slaughterhouses for a fee, but now all except four are shut or outdated. The sudden closure of informal ­slaughterhouses since Holi has spurred great anxiety. 바카라�It바카라�s hard to understand what our crime is. Are we being ­punished just for being Qureshis and in this trade?바카라� says Haji Noor Mohammad Qureshi from Bulandshahr, who is the state vice-president of the All India Jamiat-Ul-Quraish.

Haji Noor is besieged by jittery meat traders. 바카라�My phone won바카라�t stop ringing,바카라� he says. 바카라�The government wants our shops to be 100 yards from religious places, even mosques. They want coolers, ACs, glass facades. Can anybody afford meat from such hi-fi shops? Who will pay electricity bills of Rs 5,000-7,000? Who will spend Rs 1-2 lakh to rebuild the shops바카라�I or my landlord?바카라�

Bulandshahr has no municipal abattoir, leaving the town바카라�s butchers to fend for themselves. In rural areas, a four-walled enclosure in Muslim-dominated neighbourhoods caters to their needs. In urban areas, it is the Samajwadi Party (SP) government that had shut municipal slaughterhouses, while assuring that they would be reopened after 바카라�modernisation바카라�. This almost never happened despite a Rs 10-15 crore central subsidy for reconstruction. Meerut바카라�s 200 meat-­sellers had been using abattoirs within ­export units, or had contrived informal slaughterhouses in the bylanes.

바카라�After the municipal abattoir closed, Meerut바카라�s meat exporters바카라�the only ones left with valid slaughterhouse licences바카라�were asked to help small retailers until it was rebuilt,바카라� says Haji Sajjid Akhlak, who runs Al-Aqsa, a processing unit on the Meerut-Hapur highway. 바카라�Last week, the exporters were asked to stop helping ­retailers, while informal slaughter was banned. The retai­ler will ­die hungry, for he needs his daily inc­ome to survive.바카라�

Richa Singh, a student leader who contested the assembly polls unsuccessfully on an SP ticket, points out that Allahabad바카라�s butchers were still using the slaughterhouse 바카라�closed바카라� by the SP government, albeit informally. 바카라�But now they cannot use even the 바카라�closed바카라� unit,바카라� she says. 바카라�The police have become very strict and the retailers are struggling for food. There is a lot of anxiety and fear now.바카라� It바카라�s the same story in Hapur, Lucknow and Varanasi as well.

바카라�The SP government had promised to reopen municipal slaughterhouses after modernisation, but reneged on it. In fact, even Azam Khan couldn바카라�t bear to see us Qureshis prosper,바카라� says Yusuf Qureshi, who owns a meat packaging unit near Hapur. 바카라�And now this government is taking advantage of its majority, forgetting that mutton is prized by Hindu diners more than Muslims.바카라� Yusuf is a former Congress minister, while Khan is a Pathan and SP leader, making them 바카라�caste바카라� and political rivals.

Even chicken and mutton retailers in Gola Kuan, a Muslim-dominated area of Meerut, blame Khan and his party for not having renewed their licences in previous years. They feel this has given the BJP an easy opportunity to halt their traditional work. 바카라�People have started using godowns as abattoirs, especially to cater to wedding feasts,바카라� says Hamza, a poultry dealer whose licence was not renewed in 2016. 바카라�But the police have started raiding weddings too.바카라�

바카라�If all these businesses and export units are illegal, should the UP government not pursue the officials who connived to keep them open?바카라� asks Yusuf. 바카라�Instead, the bureaucracy is busy displaying its Hindutva credentials.바카라�

A slaughterhouse at Gosipur near Hapur was closed during the last Kumbh Mela in 2013. 바카라�Since religious sentiments were involved, people waited patiently바카라�but the abattoir never reopened,바카라� says Noor Mohammad. This vast network of informal or outdated slaughterhouses is what the Yogi Adityanath government is now calling illegal.

바카라�UP had abattoirs only due to political patronage,바카라� says Balraj Doongar, Meerut convener of the Bajrang Dal. 바카라�When 바카라�they바카라� ran the government, the people and the administration were turned into helpless spectators.바카라� By 바카라�they바카라�, he implies Muslims and, according to him, closing abattoirs is a wider public expectation too, a precursor to 바카라�Ram Rajya바카라�.

Doongar hit the headlines recently for unearthing an 바카라�illegal바카라� slaughterhouse run by Rahul Thakur, a Meerut resident who claimed to be a BJP worker. Thakur, a 바카라�Nai Rajput바카라� by caste, was roughed up by Bajrang Dal workers, who say he had been felling bovines at a unit in Ambedkar colony. 바카라�You see, we don바카라�t care whether the slaughtering is done by Hindus or by Muslims,바카라� says Doongar.

Yet, oddly, there have been raids of late even on units with no abattoirs. It was during one such drive that Akhlak바카라�s meat packaging unit, Al-Aqsa, was closed. 바카라�They inspected the setup and saw there was no slaughterhouse. We also showed the requisite documents,바카라� says Akhlak. 바카라�But then they said our building plan was unapproved. Many units here don바카라�t have this clearance as they had come up when there was no approving authority. We are shut until we get this approval.바카라�

Hafiz Imran, whose family is close to the Bahujan Samaj Party and runs one of UP바카라�s biggest meat exporters, Al-Faheem, says, 바카라�Big units like ours will survive or diversify, but small retailers will perish without the abattoirs. The new government is making survival tough even for legal units. They are finding small flaws  and ordering closures straightaway.바카라�

Allahabad-based advocate Kamal Kri­shna Roy points out that many Hindus associate the meat trade with Muslims. 바카라�It바카라�s a false impression,바카라� he says. 바카라�Hindus are, in fact, big meat consumers today. But the scale of the BJP바카라�s electoral victory suggests that most Hindus, at least tacitly, approve the ban on abattoirs. They are silent also because these are Navratri days, when a lot of Hindus stay off meat anyway.바카라�

Many activist groups oppose imp­ositions on food habits, but the BJP win has stunned most of them. 바카라�For now, those who oppose the closures don바카라�t know what to do,바카라� says Roop Rekha Verma, former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University. 바카라�The propaganda around 바카라�pink revolution바카라� rests on incorrect claims of depleting bovine-buffalo population.바카라� It seems to have worked and now Muslims are on the back foot, fearing tremendous resistance. They are only too aware that abattoirs are often seen as inherently unhygienic, that rumours abound about the blood from abattoirs spreading disease and ruining the soil.

Imran rues that not many know 바카라�how clean, efficient and non-polluting the better slaughterhouses are바카라�almost as clean as five-star hotels바카라�. Moreover, every part of felled buffaloes and goats serves a purpose. The blood, for example, goes to lipstick and fertiliser manufacturers. 바카라�That everything has utility is what makes our business so profitable. Otherwise, to protect bovines, wouldn바카라�t the government simply stop meat exports?바카라� he asks. As Satish Prakash sums it up, 바카라�This fight is not over dharma, purity or buffalo-­protection. It바카라�s a financial war.바카라�

By Pragya Singh in Meerut and Hapur