Halal is economic apartheid, but does jhatka movement have enough steam?

As slowly as an animal bleeds to its death in halal, a jhatka movement is coming to life in India. Figures are fuzzy as large parts of meat sales are in the informal sector, but startups and certification agencies are coming up, political activism is intensifying, and a strong online buzz has started, which is usually a precursor to ground action in the Narendra Modi era.

Jhatka is the process of beheading the animal in a single stroke, as opposed to halal slaughter which requires only the carotid artery and the trachea to be slit so that the animal bleeds to death. The latter is obviously more long-drawn and painful for the animal.

Halal also acts as a powerful tool of economic apartheid and a gateway activity for religious exclusion and eventually conversion. Halal slaughter, for instance, insists that the animal must be facing the Kaaba in Mecca.  The slaughter must be done only by a Muslim. Kalma, or Islamic verses, must be recited during the slaughter.

This excludes non-Muslims from the process. Since Hindus and Sikhs have not been sticklers to their way of slaughter so far because of greater secularisation and very little idea about how halal economics work,  most of the meat sold in India is halal. Everything from cosmetics, vaccines, cereals, and even holidays are certified halal. It is a $7-trillion global industry driven solely by religion.

Even desi brands like Haldiram, Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali, Bikanervala, and Dawat rice have been forced to get halal certification to import to the Middle East. CNN-News18 recently exposed an unregulated certification racket. Without any government sanction or Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) approval, outfits like the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s Halal Trust, Global Islamic Shariah Services (GISS), and Halal India Private Limited run this scam running into crores.   

But now, a jhatka backlash is slowly taking shape. The most recent flashpoint has been the demand of Hindutva groups in Karnataka to ban halal establishments and encourage jhatka meat shops and Hindavi supermarkets.

BJP national general secretary CT Ravi has been quoted saying that halal meat was part of “economic jihad”. He said when Muslims refuse to buy non-halal meat from Hindus, “why should you insist that Hindus must buy from them?”

In the last year or two, several jhatka shops and delivery chains have started coming up. Ventures like Meomo, which started in Bengaluru, and Jhatka Bytes in Kolkata are growing. 

The potential Indian jhatka meat market is quite big. A 2018 study by Balamurali Natrajan and Suraj Jacob published in the Economic and Political Weekly showed more than 80% Indians or around 900 million people were meat eaters. It quoted the National Sample Survey Orgnaisation (NSSO) to estimate that 58% Hindus, 93% Christians, 21% Sikhs and 78% of Buddhists had meat. They are the domestic target audience.

“The exploitation of these demographics to expand the organised market for jhatka meat in India has also been subtly prodded by administrative actions in recent months. In January 2021, the Agricultural Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), a body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, dropped the word ‘halal’ from its red meat manual. Many believed this was the impact of the anti-halal campaigns launched by various right-wing groups in states across India,” reported Business Standard in May last year.

Internationally, Sweden, Norway and Iceland stipulate animals to be butchered through stunning and at one go. Switzerland, Austria and others have rules that prohibit ritualistic butchering like halal and kosher. In 2017, Belgium banned ritualistic slaughter, which was challenged by Muslim and Jewish groups. In December 2020, the European Court of Justice upheld the ban in view of animal suffering.

So, jhatka meat can be exported to a large number of Western nations as well. 

Besides the economic apartheid which cripples non-Muslim businesses — especially Sikhs, Buddhists, and lower-caste Hindus — the halal method makes the animal suffer a lot more and longer than necessary and dehumanises the people doing the job. It also keeps open the possibility of shadowy certification money being channelised into narco-terror and jihad.   

A strong awareness campaign among consumers and a policy push for jhatka can change all that and make the meat business a level playing ground with fewer bones to pick.

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