Do not eat halal meat – a very cruel way of killing animals. Islam regards animals to be without souls. That is not the Indian tradition.
Hindu dharma expressly forbids killing merely to satisfy your taste buds. But if you must eat meat, eat the more humane slaughter jhatka (instantaneous) meat. Cruel killing will affect your ātma-tattva. Besides, it impoverishes Dalits and Sikhs.
When a restaurant or hotel serves halaal, it implies that Hindu and Sikh butchers have been totally pushed out of the meat supply chain because our faith strictly forbids halal meat. It also means the seller surreptitiously kills or gets cows killed, keeps beef and fuels demand for it as a Hindu meat-seller won’t do that. So Hindus indirectly also end up supporting the beef chain, even though most Hindus won’t touch beef as we revere Gaumata.
Halal slaughter is extreme cruelty that can’t be described. See how halal meat comes to the plate:
The world over, Muslims encourage their kids to perform halal on goats as qurbani (sacrifice) at their own homes or as a community show during their festivals & key occasions. These children, when asked by the teacher what they did on their weekend/holiday, provide an action replay of how they performed the halal qurbani. That’s creation of TINY TOT TERRORISTS for you!
Among Hindus, Khateek (खटीक) have done the butchery work traditionally since times immemorial, and it was jhatka always. But now, they have been marginalised and have been forced to explore other employment avenues. Hindus must work to revive Khateeks and jhatka meat shops and the best way is to raise awareness about cruelty, create demand for jhatka & build a database of shops selling jhatka for easy supply. Efforts should be made to list a few shops in top cities of India and share among meat-eaters.
There are still some Hindu-Sikh shops, especially in Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan. But their numbers are declining so rapidly that you can’t find them easily, especially in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc. That’s why it will be good to have this data.
Above all, Hindus need to be informed and must insist on jhatka only, or be prepared to make a show and let go of the options. It will start having an impact. No restaurant would like to lose business. If every Hindu starts insisting on jhatka, you will once again end up empowering a competing eco-system.
For instance, Malaysian-origin airline AirAsia serves only halal eatables on its flights even when there is no Muslim on board & even to Hindu passengers who expressly demand jhatka meat. Its cabin crew & officials are deaf to complaints in this regard while the aviation ministry is in deep slumber.
The fact remains that today, virtually no restaurant or hotel keeps jhatka meat. If you insist, they will offer seafood or vegetarian dishes as an option. That is where Hindu meat-eaters must put their foot down and insist on jhatka, or nothing.
Read this article by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to understand how the most intolerant community prevails in the matter. Halal only-restaurants and shops are a manifestation of the same.
Journalist Sandeep Deo has initiated a full-fledged media campaign for boycotting halal meat. Watch IndiaSpeaksISD for the details.
“It seems even the government of India as per the APEDA act requires all meat to be halal,” says Sankrant Sanu. (Scroll below for details on this).
Is it then that the government subsidizes slaughter houses and requires them to fund mullah maulvis to certify the meat as halal slaughtered, he asks.
Here is some interesting data gathered by Suren.
a) India exports 50% of beef to Vietnam, Russia, Phillipines
http://agriexchange.apeda.gov.in/indexp/Product_description_32head.aspx?gcode=0401
b) 90% of sheep/goat meat to Gulf nations
http://agriexchange.apeda.gov.in/indexp/Product_description_32head.aspx?gcode=0402
c) 90% of poultry to Muslim-majority nations
http://apeda.gov.in/apedawebsite/six_head_product/animal.htm
d) The Exporter’s Guide for meat products does not mandate halal certification.
https://eicindia.gov.in/Knowledge-Repository/Legal/pdf/Exporters%20Guide%20Raw%20Chilled%20&%20Frozen%20Meat.pdf
e) However, the grant of license by APEDA has questions on halal certification.
http://apeda.gov.in/apedawebsite/Announcements/procedure_for_meat_plant.pdf
APEDA’s procedure for grant of license does not mention halal –
However, because of the format to be filled up, even though 50% of beef is exported via Vietnam to China, where halal is not mandatory, all abattoirs are by default halal certified.
The meat quality and safety programme of APEDA ensures that all abattoirs are licensed as halal-compliant.
http://apeda.gov.in/apedawebsite/MEAT_MANUAL/Chap5/Chap5.pdf
It may also be so due to commercial interests. halal needs a different first three stages v/s non-halal (stun) machinery. Non-halal : corral, pre-stun, stun box, kill box, shackle :
Halal – corral , then inverted halal box (the whole animal goes in), and a different shackle!
Whatever the case may be, the net result is not kosher for Hindus. They end up getting served only halal more and more as jhatka has nearly disappeared from the shelves, the plate and the Hindu lexicon. It is time to revive it.
Interestingly, India does not export pork, neither jhatka nor halal. Not because Hindus don’t eat it but because Muslims don’t just not patronise it, but abhor it!
– Compiled from tweets by Sandeep Deo, Sankrant Sanu and Suren, among others. Rashtradhara does not take responsibility for any inaccuracy in the text.
CHerry Griffin
August 30, 2021 at 1:05 pm
I am English and won’t buy any halal meat so I have to buy organic to ensure the animal has been properly treated. How our Government can condone what one minority wants is beyond me.When I wrote to an MP he said we must respect other cults religions but that is only muslims! Most other religions do not want this cruelty to animals, why pander to the m’s?