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Don’t slaughter cows on Eid, urge Bengal's Muslim clerics after BJP govt's curbs on cattle sales
Traders said the restrictions could impact the Goala community, which runs backyard dairies across the state during festivals.
Muslim clerics have advised the community not to buy cows for Qurbani (offering) during the upcoming Eid-al-Adha festival, expected to be celebrated end of the month, following the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s restrictions on cattle sales.
Traders said the restrictions could impact the Goala community, which runs backyard dairies across the state, selling milk, paneer and non-milch cattle during festivals.
The state home department headed by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari issued a notification on May 13, citing the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950, and the August 2018 order by a Calcutta high court division bench on a petition seeking a ban on cow slaughters in public places.
The notification, a copy of which HT saw, does not ban cow slaughter but imposes broad restrictions on it and mandates jail time and fines for violators.
The notification states that no person shall slaughter bulls, bullocks, cows, calves, male and female buffalos, buffalo calves and castrated buffalos without obtaining written certificates jointly issued by municipality chairpersons or panchayat sabhathipatis and government veterinary surgeons stating “that the animal is fit for slaughter”.
The certificate must state that the “animal is over 14 years of age for work or breeding or the animal has become permanently incapacitated due to age, injury, deformity or any incurable disease,” the notification said.
The 2018 court order
The 2018 high court order, a copy of which HT saw, stated: “Firstly, the slaughter of animals including cows and buffaloes, in any open public place is strictly prohibited. Secondly, sacrifice of a cow is no part of the festival of Id-uz-Zoha and is not a religious requirement under Islam as held by the Supreme Court in the case of Mohd. Hanif Quareshi & Ors. Vs. The State of Bihar.”
Muslim clerics respond
Maulana Shafique Qasmi, the Imam of Kolkata’s iconic Nakhoda Masjid, said Muslims should not offer cows for Qurbani during the festival.
“I appeal to my Muslim brothers not to offer cows. In fact, they should stop eating beef altogether. Let the Central government declare cow as a protected national animal. Unfortunately, it is our Hindu brothers who will suffer because they are the ones who breed cattle and sell the herds to Muslims during Eid. Millions of rupees exchange hands,” he said on Monday.
Pirzada Jiaudin Siddiqui from Hooghly district’s Furfura Sharif - the state’s most visited Islamic shrine built around the mausoleum of Pir Abu Bakr Siddiqui - said: “Why should we eat beef? Hindus worship cows. We can eat goats and sheep instead”.
Cattle and dairy farmers worried
Sombhu Ghosh, a dairy owner in North 24 Parganas district’s Bhangar, said he will suffer a loss of around ₹12 lakh if his cows aren’t sold.
“I have 10 cows that don’t produce milk anymore. Most are less than 14 years old. We have to keep them fat and healthy. The biggest one can sell for ₹1.75 lkah and the smallest, ₹85,000. Muslims have refused to buy these animals, citing the recent order. Few are coming to the local cattle market,” Ghosh said.
“For centuries, the Goalas have sold dry cows to Muslims. We take loans from banks to buy cattle and fodder. How can we repay the banks? What will we do with these animals now? We have no sheds to keep them,” he said.
Numerous videos, showing dairy owners seeking the state’s help, have gone viral on social media.
Indian Secular Front leader Nawsad Siddiqui, the MLA from Bhangar since 2021 and one of the Pirzadas from Furfura Sharif, wrote to Adhikari on Monday requesting exemption until the coming festival.
“This is a multi-crore business that Hindus control. Bengal’s leather industry depends on the supply of animal skin…Section 12 of the 1950 Act empowers the government to grant exemption on animal slaughter for religious purposes. I have written this to the government,” Siddiqui said.
State government’s take
Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Debjit Sarkar defended the state’s decision.
“The dairy owners must realise that these strict laws were imposed in 1950, when the BJP didn’t even exist. BJP cannot be a law breaker. It is only enforcing the law. Those who have objections may move court,” Sarkar told HT.
Referring to the state’s option to order an exemption under Section 12 of the 1950 Act, he said, “If the government feels, it may order an exemption. But that cannot contradict the majority’s opinion. Many Indians consider the cow their mother. Cows are worshipped by millions.”
