Halal ban in UP
Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, has banned all halal products under a dubious order that seems motivated by anti-Muslim bigotry. India has a confusing halal certification regime, with several companies offering the service, but only a handful registered with federal or state governments. Reforming the system is necessary to maintain standards. However, this does not appear to be the real reason for the ban, since the UP government is still allowing halal exports. If these halal products were really of questionable quality, there is no way a competent government would risk the reputational harm of exporting tainted food.
The vague language of the ban is a clear attempt to punish companies for getting halal certification, rather than regulate the practice — it is worth noting that some extremist Hindus refuse to eat halal-certified products, including obviously vegan ones. Even the police case that preceded the ban quickly shifts into far-right conspiracy territory, at one point ‘complaining’ that vegan-certified products are being certified halal, even though vegan products are always halal. The simple explanation for this is that some people may not recognise the vegan certification on a package, but they do recognise the halal certification. In many Western countries, packaged vegan foods may often also carry vegetarian, halal, kosher and dairy-free certifications, even though all vegan food automatically meets these other requirements. There is nothing wrong or sinister about putting reassuring potential customers. But the complaint says this is evidence of a “conspiracy” to reduce the sales of products without halal certification.
The FIR also features stock Hindutva political slurs, accusing the halal certification bodies of “anti-national conspiracy” and “funding terror outfits” even though no actual evidence is provided for either claim. There is, however, clear evidence that the BJP government wants to punish not just Muslims, but anyone that would dare serve them.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2023.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.