‘More dangerous than drugs’: BJP’s war on beef in India’s West Bengal
After the Bharatiya Janata Party won West Bengal’s state elections, a May 13 government notice enforcing the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950 has sharply curtailed bovine slaughter and trade. The Tangra municipal slaughterhouse in Kolkata has been largely shut since May, contributing to shortages, higher prices and lost earnings for meat traders.
Why It Matters
The measures have immediate impacts on food availability and vendor livelihoods in a state where beef is widely consumed across multiple communities, and they illustrate how administrative enforcement tied to a political transition can reshape local markets and daily diets.
Key Facts
- Notice date: May 13 (issued by West Bengal government)
- Relevant law: West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950
- Certificate conditions: Required for bovine slaughter; may be issued only if animal is over 14 years old, unfit for work or breeding, or permanently incapacitated by age, injury, deformity or incurable disease
- Slaughter location restriction: Certified animals may be slaughtered only in municipal or locally designated slaughterhouses; open public slaughter prohibited
- Timing relative to election: Notice issued four days after BJP was declared winner in the state legislature elections that ended 15 years of TMC rule
A municipal-run slaughterhouse in Tangra, Kolkata — the city’s only bovine facility — has stood largely idle since it was closed in May, leaving its iron gates locked and its campus used by local children. Nearby eatery managers and meat suppliers say the shutdown has emptied streets that once saw steady trade in beef dishes, and they expect the facility to remain closed for the foreseeable future.
The state government’s May 13 notification invoked the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950 and set out strict conditions for issuing certificates that allow bovine slaughter. Under the rules restated in the notice, cows, bulls, bullocks, calves and specified buffaloes can be slaughtered only if a certificate finds the animal fit for slaughter — a determination limited to animals older than 14 years, permanently incapacitated or otherwise unfit for work or breeding — and slaughter is allowed only at municipal or designated slaughterhouses.
The notification came days after the Bharatiya Janata Party was declared the winner in West Bengal’s legislative elections, and its immediate effect was felt around Eid in May when restaurants and markets reported acute shortages of beef. The disruption has continued for months, compounded by administrative hurdles: licences required by meat suppliers have not been renewed since the Kolkata municipal corporation was dissolved in June following the resignation of mayor Firhad Hakim, and civic elections are not scheduled until December.
Traders describe steep income losses and customers shifting diets. One supplier said he had not earned any money for more than three months, while restaurant operators reported halved sales and rising prices — for example, a plate of beef bhuna rising from 100 to 120 rupees and wholesale beef prices moving from about 200–250 rupees per kilogram before May to roughly 350–500 now. Government data cited in the reporting show West Bengal has among the highest beef consumption rates in India, with 10.4% of rural and 7.9% of urban households reporting beef or buffalo meat consumption; two-thirds of Muslims in the state consume beef, and Christians, some Dalit groups and some Indigenous communities also include it in regular diets.
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