UP stares at meat crisis as traders begin strike against Adityanath’s crackdown

Meat sellers across Uttar Pradesh launched an indefinite strike on Monday against an ongoing crackdown on illegal and mechanised slaughterhouses. With the issue gaining political colours, here’s what you need to know about the issue.

The BJP government under new chief minister Yogi Adityanath launched an operation against illegal slaughter houses and cattle smugglers, a key pre-poll promise of the party that won a landslide victory in the state. Several abbatoirs which the authorities were running illegally have been closed down and more than 50 people arrested. Meat sellers’ organisations say the crackdown had created a fear psychosis among the traders and even licensed slaughter houses are being targetted. They have also cited loss of livelihood of thousands of people associated with the business. Also, several meat shops were set ablaze, allegedly by Hindu right-wing activists.

The government has also decided to list the names of cattle smugglers in village crime notebooks, gather intelligence on their activities and tighten vigil along inter-state borders to prevent illegal cattle trade. State chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar also directed district magistrates and senior superintendents of police in all 75 districts to detect illegal abbatoris and initiate strict action. “Information related to illegal slaughtering in past five years should be analysed and routes of transportation should be shortlisted and surprise checking should be initiated on that,” the latter said.