BJP rule leaves beef in short supply in West Bengal, changing eating habits

Beef has become increasingly difficult to find in Kolkata following tighter enforcement of cattle slaughter rules after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in West Bengal, affecting meat traders, restaurants and consumers, according to Al Jazeera.

At noon on a weekday, the area outside Kolkata's only bovine slaughterhouse in Tangra is unusually quiet.

The municipal facility, housed in a colonial-era building behind large iron gates, has effectively stopped operating.

Schoolchildren now enter the otherwise deserted compound to play, said Mohammad Mehmood Alam, who runs a roadside eatery opposite the slaughterhouse and serves mainly daily wage workers, taxi drivers and autorickshaw drivers.

"I don't think this government will let this reopen any time soon," Alam told Al Jazeera.

The situation followed a 13 May notification from the West Bengal government on cattle slaughter, issued four days after the BJP was declared the winner of the state legislative elections, ending the 15-year rule of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government led by Mamata Banerjee.

The notification calls for strict enforcement of the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950.

Under the law, cows, bulls, bullocks, calves and certain buffaloes cannot be slaughtered without a certificate confirming that they are fit for slaughter.

Such certificates can be issued only for animals older than 14, those no longer suitable for work or breeding, or those permanently incapacitated by age, injury, deformity or an incurable disease.

The notification also requires certified animals to be slaughtered only at municipal or designated slaughterhouses and bans slaughter in public places.

Beef supply remains tight

The new enforcement came shortly before Eid in May, when restaurants and markets across Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal began reporting shortages. More than three months later, the supply problem continues, reports Al Jazeera.

Obtaining the slaughter certificate is not the only obstacle. Meat suppliers also require licences to operate, but renewals have been stalled since Kolkata's municipal corporation was dissolved in June following the resignation of outgoing mayor Firhad Hakim. The next civic elections are scheduled for December.

Mushtaq, a friend of Alam and a local meat trader, is among those waiting for his licence to be renewed. He said his family had supplied beef in Kolkata for six generations without facing a similar situation under previous governments.

"The renewal of his licence was halted because of the elections, but they've not said anything to us about when they will be renewed. I haven't made a single penny for more than three months now," Mushtaq said.

At Alam's eatery, a large wok of beef bhuna sits near the entrance, while fish curry is being prepared in another. Previously, both woks would have been filled with beef dishes.

"We only sell the bhuna now," Alam said, adding that dishes such as chaap and stew require better-quality beef, which has become difficult to obtain.

Prices have also risen sharply as supplies have declined. A plate of beef bhuna now costs Rs120 ($1.25), compared with Rs100 ($1.04) before the restrictions. A kilogramme of beef costs between Rs350 and Rs500 ($3.66-$5.22), up from around Rs200-250 previously.

Despite the higher prices, Alam said sales have fallen by about half.

He attributed the decline to both reduced supplies and concerns over the quality of available beef. He also suggested that some customers are now reluctant to be seen eating beef in public under a BJP government.

Alam said he particularly misses a group of young Hindu men who regularly came to his restaurant for beef stew.

Beef consumption at home has also fallen, he said. His family now eats beef perhaps once a week, compared with five or six times previously, and has shifted towards vegetables, cheaper fish and occasionally chicken. Mutton has become too expensive.

Beef remains part of Bengal's diet

West Bengal has traditionally been one of India's major beef-consuming states. Government data show that 10.4% of rural households and 7.9% of urban households in the state reported consuming beef or buffalo meat.

That places West Bengal among the states with the highest levels of beef consumption in India, alongside neighbouring Assam and Kerala in the south, according to Al Jazeera.

Around two-thirds of Muslims in Bengal consume beef, while Christians, sections of Dalit communities and some Indigenous communities also include it in their diets.

The legal requirements governing cattle slaughter are not new. What has changed, according to Al Jazeera, is the strictness with which the rules are now being enforced following the BJP's election victory in the state.

Officially, the Tangra slaughterhouse has not been declared closed. But its current state suggests little activity. An official at the facility, who declined to give his name, opened a small green door in the boundary wall and said the senior officer was not present.

Asked about the work being done there, he said staff simply come in, spend a few hours and leave.

There is currently no clear indication of when operations will return to normal, or whether they will resume at all, the official said.

Some business owners say they anticipated the difficulties. Kolkata-based businessman Alfaz Laiq shut down his dairy business in Burdwan district in April, as West Bengal went to the polls.

He sold his retired cattle to butchers and meat suppliers at heavily discounted prices rather than risk dealing with what he expected would be increased scrutiny under a BJP government, according to Al Jazeera.

Laiq said he sold cattle for as little as Rs30 after buying them for around Rs100.

"That's still better than dealing with the headache" of harassment faced by cattle traders, he said.

He now fears beef could eventually disappear from Bengal's traditional diet.

"I am someone who used to have beef for breakfast but have completely stopped bringing beef," Laiq said. "Carrying beef has become more dangerous than carrying drugs in Bengal now."

The restrictions introduced in West Bengal are part of a broader pattern under BJP governments in other states, Al Jazeera reports. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka have laws restricting cattle slaughter, although the rules differ.

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Uttarakhand explicitly prohibit the sale of beef or beef products.

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh prohibit possession of beef obtained through illegal cattle slaughter, while Maharashtra bans the slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks and possession of their meat.

Karnataka primarily restricts cattle slaughter and the sale or transport of cattle for slaughter.

Laiq has since shifted to buying and selling goats, farming and leasing out his farmland.

Restaurants remove beef from menus

In Park Circus, a Muslim-majority neighbourhood in Kolkata, beef sellers are reluctant to discuss their businesses publicly.

Owners and managers of five shops told Al Jazeera that they have suffered losses of between 30% and 40% since May.

One shop manager said all the shops in the area remained closed for about two months before gradually reopening over the past month to six weeks.

Another said irregular supplies, higher prices and declining meat quality had all affected sales.

At least a dozen Kolkata restaurants have stopped serving beef dishes over the past three months amid tighter slaughter rules and declining supplies, according to Al Jazeera.

Zam Zam Restaurant is among them. Director Shadman Faize said the restaurant removed beef dishes from all three of its Kolkata branches because it could no longer maintain the quality it expected.

He said the chain had lost customers, was facing losses of about 40% and had been forced to lay off staff.

Olypub, a Park Street institution dating back to 1947 and long known for its beef steak, has also struggled with supplies. The restaurant has kept the dish on its menu but serves it only when beef is available.

"There has never been a situation like this in Kolkata before," a member of the management told Al Jazeera, requesting anonymity.

Officials differ over slaughterhouse responsibility

The uncertainty extends to the authorities responsible for the city's slaughterhouse and meat-trading licences.

When Al Jazeera asked Smita Pandey, commissioner and administrative head of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), about the reopening of the Tangra slaughterhouse and the renewal of beef traders' licences, she referred the matter to the state Animal Resources Development Department.

Nikhil Kumar Shit, director of animal husbandry and veterinary services at the department, however, said the KMC was responsible for the slaughterhouse and licences.

"I am not aware of the fact that the Tangra slaughterhouse has not been operational for a while now," he said, adding that fitness certificates are generally issued by the KMC and its veterinary officer.

He said he was not aware of the situation beyond that.

Shortages spread beyond Kolkata

The uncertainty over beef supplies is also being felt outside Kolkata. In Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district, local markets have reportedly been running out of beef by around 11am since May.

Resident Sayed Saifulla, who works as a hairdresser in Kolkata, said some days there is no beef available at all.

Before May, beef prices had been relatively stable compared with fish and mutton, whose prices fluctuated more, he said. That has now changed, with beef prices also rising sharply.

Saifulla said his family used to eat beef almost every day but now has it only once or twice a week. Despite cutting consumption, his weekly food bill has risen from about Rs5,000 to Rs7,000, a 40% increase.

"Our earnings aren't going up the same way, are they?" he said.

In Malda district, where more than half the population is Muslim, beef is increasingly being obtained through informal networks, one resident told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.

He said people who know cattle owners can arrange for beef to be delivered after animals are slaughtered secretly at night.

The resident said fear of being caught dealing in beef is widespread in the district. But, he added, many poor Muslim families are unwilling to give up the meat, leaving some to risk their safety to continue eating it.