Outlook Magazine May 2022 issue Outlook Magazine May 2022 issue 
Politics over food has ‘beefed’ up once again in Assam where Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced a ban serving and consumption of beef in restaurants, hotels, eateries and public spaces across the state. The ban was announced amid the ongoing BJP-Congress spat over beef after the latter accused the ruling BJP of distributing beef among the electorate as part of its winning strategy ahead of the assembly by-election in Muslim-majority Samaguri.
The ban has once again sparked the debate over politicisation of food and the BJP’s convenient indecisiveness when it comes to the beef.
A look at what’s happening in Assam firstThe latest ban was announced on December 4 following a state cabinet meeting to amend existing state law on consumption of beef with a view to incorporate the new provisions. While consumption of beef itself is not illegal in Assam, transportation, and slaughter of all cattle, and sale of beef and beef products in the state is regulated by the Assam Cattle Preservation Act of 2021, brought in by the Sarma government after being elected to office. The Act prohibited slaughter and sale of beef in areas with Hindu, Jain or Sikh majority and also banned beef within a five-kilometre radius of a temple or other Hindu religious institutions like Vaishnavite monasteries (Satra).
"We had earlier introduced a bill in Assam to protect cows and we have been successful…Going further, we have decided that beef will not be served in any hotels or restaurants in the state. It will also not be served during any public function or in any public place," he said.
The ban has led to a political row in Assam and elsewhere with opposition leaders calling it a ruse to divert attention from real issues. Assam’s All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) legislator Aminul Islam said that the ban was intended to divert attention from the state’s government’s alleged failure to “carry out development works”. "It has failed to tackle unemployment. There are major issues in the education and health sector... they are simply diverting the people's attention through such decisions," the leader was quoted by NDTV.
The Politics of Food Policing: Outlook's Latest Issue -- Cow Prescription Slamming the Assam government’s decision, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut asked why similar bans were not imposed in other BJP-ruled states. “If a ban has been imposed in Assam, why not in BJP-ruled states like Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur? Why the selective approach? Implement the ban uniformly if you must”.
Sarma also faced flak from BJP leaders from other states like Kerala. Major Ravi, the party’s Kerala Vice President BJP said that the party “should not be giving wrong messages and create communal tensions”. He added that Sarma should understand the difference between “cow” and “beef” (which includes meat from dairy cattle like cow, buffalo, bulls, bullocks ox, oxen and calf).
Political BeefBeef politics in India is not new and since 2014, it has been one of the top agendas of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. According to a Reuters report, a total of 63 cow vigilante attacks took place across India between 2010 and June 2017, most after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. At least 28 Indians including 24 Muslims were killed in these attacks and and 124 injured. In a majority of these cases, fringe groups affiliated with the Sangh Parivar have been involved, not only in engaging violence but also perpetuating misinformation and targeting minorities. Data collected by the Human Rights Watch also showed that between May 2015 and December 2018, at least 44 people—36 of them Muslims—were killed by cow vigilantes across 12 Indian states in the name of “gau Raksha” or cow protectionism.
Nevertheless, the economic policies adopted by the BJP government have not hindered meat production. In fact, India has seen an increase in meat exports in the last few years. In 2017, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OECD) released its Outlook 2017-2026 report which noted that India was the third largest exporter of beef in the world, a position it is projected to hold on to for the next decade. By 2026, India is projected to be contributing 16 per cent of global beef exports.
Moreover, between 2014 to 2019, the government raised subsidies for modernising slaughterhouses and abattoirs, indicating interest in improving these spaces for business and hygiene purposes. As per a 2021 report in The Caravan, documented the “close cooperation” and “proximity” between the government and individual BJP leaders and “major meat exporter companies, based on their funding of the government’s pet development projects”.
The party’s flip-flopping attitude to the issue in some states while maintaining an aggressive cow protectionism narrative in others has been criticised before.
Outlook Magazine May 2023 issue Outlook Magazine May 2023 issue Last year, National Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Atul Kumar Anjaan had hit out at the BJP, stating said that the party is adopting a “dual policy” when it comes to banning beef.
In 2020, Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao had “dared” the BJP government to “ban beef exports”. "Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi should have one policy. Let them ban export of beef. Uttar Pradesh, where Yogi Adityanath is the Chief Minister, is the biggest exporter of beef in the country. How is that happening? It is all hypocrisy, and it is very unfortunate. It is for the people to decide... Today, violence takes place in the name of beef," Rao said.
Different States, Different StrokesThis contrast between the BJP’s national anti-beef rhetoric and its economic policies and regional politicise has not been as prominent anywhere else as in the northeastern states of India, where the BJP has made inroads in the past decade. Despite leaders like Sarma, who is often pitched as the face of the saffron party in the northeast, spearheading cow protectionism in Assam, the topic remains a contentious one among leaders of the region.
Just in February this year, BJP’s Meghalaya state chief Ernest Mawrie told reporters that there is "no restriction on beef eating" in Meghalaya and that he too consumes beef.
"I cannot make a statement on the resolution adopted by other states. We are in Meghalaya, everybody eats beef, and there is no restriction. Yes, I eat beef too. There is no ban in Meghalaya. It is the lifestyle of the people, no one can stop it. There is no such rule in India also. Some states have passed some acts. In Meghalaya, we have a slaughterhouse, everybody takes a cow or pig and brings it to the market. It could be a hygienic one. So the people they have the habit,” Mawrie was quoted by the media as saying.
Assam CM Announces Ban On Beef Consumption In Hotels, Restaurants, Public Places | Details Inside Earlier, Bernard Marak, former West Garo Hills district president of the BJP in Meghalaya, quit the party after objections to his support for beef consumption following notification of the Centre’s new rules regarding beef sale and consumption on May 23, 2017. Ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections in the state, Marak had promised to lower beef prices in Meghalaya and also promised to throw a “rice beer and beef” party to celebrate the BJP government.
In 2017, Mizoram’s state chief of BJP JV Hluna had told CNN News18: “I am aware about the recent government notification on cattle ban but I would like to clarify that as per the Bible eating beef is allowed”. The state has 87 percent Christian population who traditionally consume beef.
In Christian-majority Nagaland where beef is a culinary mainstay, the local BJP distanced itself from a proposed “Gau Mahasabha” to be conducted by Hindu religious leaders in Kohima in September this year led to objections from the local Neiphiu Rio government. Speaking of the Mahasabha, the state BJP president Benjamin Yepthomi told PTI, “It has nothing to do with the Nagaland BJP. It is imperative to address this issue in the context of Nagaland’s socio-religious and cultural fabric”.
In 2020, Nagaland government banned the sale, consumption and trade of dog meat, popular in the region, as well as the import and export of dogs for commercial purposes. Mizoram followed suit. In 2023, however, the Kohima bench of the Gauhati High Court quashed the 2020 government notification. In both states, the move was met by local resistance. Residents and activists in both states claim that dog meat continues to be consumed and sold, especially in rural areas where authorities are more lax.
In 2018, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had proclaimed that the BJP leadership never asked him to impose a ban on beef in Manipur. In 2017, he had said that beef is an integral part of people's diet in northeast and that BJP is only trying to regulate the beef industry for “hygiene”. “Beef is very important here. All Christians eat it, most tribal communities, valley people eat beef. It is part of traditional diet now. Even the younger generation has taken to it now. The BJP is only trying to regulate the beef industry to avoid illegal slaughter for hygiene purposes,” Singh had said.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, during a podcast interview in October this year, asserted that the BJP should not “interfere with the dietary practices of individuals and communities in the state, particularly regarding beef consumption”. He also said that BJP leaders in the northeast understood the impossibility of prohibiting beef in these regions.
One of the reasons why the party seemingly accommodates such sentiments in the northeast is not to appear “anti-Christian” or “anti-tribal”. It isn’t just the Christians or Muslims who consume beef, though. Many Hindu communities in the northeast are non-vegetarian too. Beef or buff is also a culinary mainstay in tribal and/or indigenous cuisines.
The beef ban is also not implemented in states like Goa with its significant Christian population and high footfall of foreign tourists. In 2017, BJP leader Amit Shah clarified that the ruling party has no plan to ban beef in Goa. Incidentally, cow slaughter was banned in the state in 1976 by a Congress-led government. Nevertheless, the issue of rising cow protectionism and vigilantism was reported from Goa with BJP leader Michael Lobo even raising the issue in the state assembly regarding the BJP-led coalition government’s failure to protect the beef-eating population in Goa and the ineffective action against cow vigilantes.
The beef ban was first introduced on 26 May 20176dcasino, the Ministry of Environment led the BJP government which imposed a ban on the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at animal markets across India, under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals statutes, although the Supreme Court of India suspended the ban on sale of cattle in its judgement in July 2017, bringing relief to beef and leather industries. The legally-loaded issue has remained contentious since then, especially with regard to its state-wise iteration and implementation.