On the eve of the Kerala assembly polls, a group of Islamists attacked a Christian trader named Shaji M Varghese for selling non-halal meat in Meenangadi, in Kerala’s Wayanad district.
In this shocking incident, Shaji was forcefully fed raw meat by the Islamists. The lorry of a man named Manoj, who had distributed the meat, was also burnt down by the group.
It must be noted that Muslims in Kerala have a near-monopoly on the sale of meat, but Hindus and Christians do not consume halal meat as it is against their religious belief.
However, the problem started when ‘Kisan Mitra’ – a group of farmers – decided to sell fresh non-halal meat on Easter day. This initiative was seen as a direct attack on the Muslim butchers and the Islamic fundamentalists took matters into their own hands.
For a long time, it has been an open secret that the meat distributed in Kerala is of low quality and since Muslims dominate this industry, it is also ‘halal’.
Now, the Muslims in Kerala are facing the heat because the sale of non-halal meat has been received positively by the general public, leading to fears among Muslim butchers that it would impact their business.
When meat is ‘halal’ certified, a percentage of the profit has to be given to the ‘halal’-certification authorities, which are of course Muslim bodies. This transaction is always done in cash, which then becomes a massive source of income that can be used to fund various operations.
As more and more people in Kerala have started to prefer meat that isn’t ‘halal’, Muslims have unleashed a physical attack on the traders to generate fear.
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