Malayalees love their beef. No wonder, Kerala—the biggest consumer of beef in the country—is up in arms against the Union government's ban on selling cattle for beef. Political parties, literary figures and actors have all joined hands to air their protest against the Centre which, through a notification issued by the environment ministry on Friday, stuck a deathly blow to the beef trade in the country.
A large number of Malayalees have changed their Facebook profiles to pictures of spicy beef curry. Beef festivals were organised across the state with people from various quarters of life attending it.
In fact, beef—a divisive subject elsewhere in the country—is a uniting force in Kerala with political parties across the spectrum, barring the BJP, coming together to protest against the ban.
Chief Minister Pinaray Vijayan was the first one to take a public posturing against the Union government move, and called it a an “action unsuitable for a democratic nation”.
"The Central government's rules on cattle slaughter and trade are part of its effort to further the RSS agenda in the country. India is a country of diverse religions and culture. Pluralism is the essence of our democracy. However, various actions of the Centre are against this pluralism. The Sangh Parivar has unleashed violence in many parts of the country in the name of protesting against cow slaughter. Crores of people in the country slaughter cattle for food,'' he said.
Finance Minister Thomas Isaac joined the league calling the Centre's decision 'illogical'. He said the state would introspect what it could do legally.
"The government cannot decide the choice of our food. The decision seems illogical. The state government will look into it and see if anything can be done legally," Isaac said.
Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar of the CPI described Centre's decision “unacceptable and unconstitutional”.
"We will seek legal resort against this. The Centre has taken undue advantage of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and has misused it. By this move, the central government in practice is banning consumption of meat, which is not acceptable," the minister said.
Congress party, too, was quick in criticising the beef ban. KPCC president M.M. Hassan said the Centre's move was "undemocratic" and "unconstitutional".
"It is an outright violation of human rights. Banning slaughter of cow and buffalo, especially in states like Kerala, is denying the people their right to eat. Since there is no law that prohibits cow slaughter in Kerala, we will not allow for this regulation to come into practice," Hassan said.
He also alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was trying to enforce "Sangh Parivar agenda."
Hassan added: "BJP is doing cow politics in Uttar Pradesh to polarise communities. They are trying to do the same thing in Kerala by implementing ban on cow slaughter in the state. Congress will resist such an action."
Traders, butchers to feel the heat
Despite the large-scale outrage and protests by both the ruling and the opposition parties in the state, people like Hasan Chellari, who has been in the beef business for the last 30 years, is not relieved.
Hasan, who owns two butcher shops in Kozhikiode district, said the Centre move meant death bell to people like him. “Beef is an interstate business. More than three quarter of cattle that get slaughtered in Kerala are brought from neighbouring states. If this ban is implemented, then it will be tough to procure them even if the state government support us,'' he said.
Hasan has been in this business since the age of 15. His father was also a butcher. There are close to 50,000 people like him in the state who earns their livelihood from beef.
According to official figures, around 12 lakh cattle are slaughtered in Kerala every year. Majority of these cattle are brought from the neighbouring states where beef is banned. Malappuram, the Muslim dominated district in the state, accounts for the maximum beef consumption followed by Kozhikode, Ernakulam, Kasargode and Thrissur.
“Malayalees love eating beef. There is no religion involved it,'' said Sajan Varghese, who runs a slaughter house in Ernakulam.
Sajan gets cattle from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. According to him, there are some who get their cattle from far away states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He said the business was already shaky since the notification.
“With rumours spreading, many of my agents in other states sounded scared. Some told me that they already had received threats from local BJP leaders in the Kerala-Karnataka border,'' Sajan said.
He said people like him would be able to do the business only if the state government took a proactive step in this regard.
Even then, as Hasan put it, the “scenario looks bleak'' as beef is an interstate business.
