MUMBAI, India (Reuters) — Hindu nationalists in India have stepped up attacks on the country’s beef industry in a bid to halt the trade in the world’s second-biggest exporter.
Activists have seized trucks with cattle bound for abattoirs and blockaded meat processing plants
The industry is predominantly run by Muslim traders, but some groups in the majority Hindu population vehemently oppose it be-cause of the revered status of cows and beef.
Traders are concerned elements in the party of prime minister Narendra Modi may be condoning the latest flare-up in protests.
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A surge of raids has occurred this month. An official at a beef transport group in Maharashtra state said 10 vehicles travelling to Mumbai had been stopped, the animals taken forcefully and drivers beaten by members of Hindu nationalist groups despite carrying valid documents.
“We are doing everything legally, but these people harass us and disrupt our work for no reason,” said Mohammad Shahid Sheikh, president of the beef transporters group in Deonar, which is the site of India’s biggest abattoir on the outskirts of Mumbai.
Most of India’s beef comes from buffalo, which are not worshipped, but members of Hindu nationalist groups involved in protests such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) consider themselves protectors of both cows and buffalo.
Some of these groups have close links with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Modi criticized the previous government for promoting a “pink revolution to butcher cattle and export meat” while campaigning last April.
“We did say we would discourage beef exports and even the prime minister was against it, but I can’t comment on what we think of the issue now,” said Satpal Malik, a vice-president of the farmers wing of the BJP.
Officials in Maharashtra, which has been the scene of some of the most violent protests, have pledged to arrest anyone found impeding access to slaughterhouses or disrupting cattle movement.
A circular had been sent to all police units to enforce this and was due to be implemented immediately, said a senior police officer from Maharashtra.
Mohammad Ali Qureshi, president of the Bombay Suburban Beef Dealers Association, said beef processing has resumed at many facilities, but he would back calls for a nationwide protest if fresh protests break out.
“We will monitor the situation for a month and if the promises are not kept we will launch a nation-wide protest,” he said.
However, those opposed to the trade vowed to keep staging protests. Killing cows is legal in just two of India’s 29 states, though reports of illegal slaughter surface regularly.
“We don’t care if the butchers shut shop or announce a strike,” said Laxmi Narayan Chandak, head of the Maharashtra unit of VHP’s cow protection committee, which has been seizing cows held illegally for slaughter for years.
“The previous government supported the butchers to secure votes of the minority community, but they have no support in the new government.”
India is the world’s top beef ex-porter after Brazil, cornering a fifth of the market.
Its outbound shipments rose to 1.95 million tonnes last year to October, which was five percent more than for all of 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
