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 city바카라s meat retailers바카라the handful still in business바카라are 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 retailers바카라largely Qureshi Muslims바카라have 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 government바카라s 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 바카라non-vegetarian바카라 shops from other establishments. Such segregation is known to have had fraught meanings elsewhere in the world. 바카라At 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 바카라go 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.
바카라The 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. 바카라We 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 바카라illegal바카라 slaughterhouses, Muslims바카라and many Hindus바카라are 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 it바카라s 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.
A meat processing unit near Hapur
바카라In 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. 바카라And 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 today바카라s 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 India바카라s 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.
바카라We didn바카라t expect this kind of action against slaughterhouses from the UP government because PM Narendra Modi always talked about 바카라sabka 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 PM바카라s 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 바카라troubled바카라. The traders also want new municipal slaughterhouses that meet the regulations.
UP바카라s 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. 바카라It바카라s 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. 바카라My phone won바카라t stop ringing,바카라 he says. 바카라The 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 shops바카라I or my landlord?바카라
Bulandshahr has no municipal abattoir, leaving the town바카라s 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 바카라modernisation바카라. This almost never happened despite a Rs 10-15 crore central subsidy for reconstruction. Meerut바카라s 200 meat-sellers had been using abattoirs within export units, or had contrived informal slaughterhouses in the bylanes.
바카라After the municipal abattoir closed, Meerut바카라s meat exporters바카라the only ones left with valid slaughterhouse licences바카라were 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. 바카라Last 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 Allahabad바카라s butchers were still using the slaughterhouse 바카라closed바카라 by the SP government, albeit informally. 바카라But now they cannot use even the 바카라closed바카라 unit,바카라 she says. 바카라The police have become very strict and the retailers are struggling for food. There is a lot of anxiety and fear now.바카라 It바카라s the same story in Hapur, Lucknow and Varanasi as well.
바카라The SP government had promised to reopen municipal slaughterhouses after modernisation, but reneged on it. In fact, even Azam Khan couldn바카라t bear to see us Qureshis prosper,바카라 says Yusuf Qureshi, who owns a meat packaging unit near Hapur. 바카라And 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 바카라caste바카라 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. 바카라People 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. 바카라But the police have started raiding weddings too.바카라
바카라If 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. 바카라Instead, the bureaucracy is busy displaying its Hindutva credentials.바카라
A slaughterhouse at Gosipur near Hapur was closed during the last Kumbh Mela in 2013. 바카라Since religious sentiments were involved, people waited patiently바카라but 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.
바카라UP had abattoirs only due to political patronage,바카라 says Balraj Doongar, Meerut convener of the Bajrang Dal. 바카라When 바카라they바카라 ran the government, the people and the administration were turned into helpless spectators.바카라 By 바카라they바카라, he implies Muslims and, according to him, closing abattoirs is a wider public expectation too, a precursor to 바카라Ram Rajya바카라.
Doongar hit the headlines recently for unearthing an 바카라illegal바카라 slaughterhouse run by Rahul Thakur, a Meerut resident who claimed to be a BJP worker. Thakur, a 바카라Nai Rajput바카라 by caste, was roughed up by Bajrang Dal workers, who say he had been felling bovines at a unit in Ambedkar colony. 바카라You see, we don바카라t 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 Akhlak바카라s meat packaging unit, Al-Aqsa, was closed. 바카라They inspected the setup and saw there was no slaughterhouse. We also showed the requisite documents,바카라 says Akhlak. 바카라But then they said our building plan was unapproved. Many units here don바카라t 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 UP바카라s biggest meat exporters, Al-Faheem, says, 바카라Big 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. 바카라It바카라s a false impression,바카라 he says. 바카라Hindus are, in fact, big meat consumers today. But the scale of the BJP바카라s 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. 바카라For now, those who oppose the closures don바카라t know what to do,바카라 says Roop Rekha Verma, former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University. 바카라The propaganda around 바카라pink 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 바카라how clean, efficient and non-polluting the better slaughterhouses are바카라almost 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. 바카라That everything has utility is what makes our business so profitable. Otherwise, to protect bovines, wouldn바카라t the government simply stop meat exports?바카라 he asks. As Satish Prakash sums it up, 바카라This fight is not over dharma, purity or buffalo-protection. It바카라s a financial war.바카라
By Pragya Singh in Meerut and Hapur
