Bengal: Eid cattle crackdown triggers economic distress, issue moves to court

Ahead of Eid-ul-Adha, growing opposition to West Bengal’s tightened livestock slaughter enforcement has centred not only on religious concerns but on what traders, farmers and political leaders describe as an unfolding economic crisis affecting thousands of livelihoods.

With cattle markets disrupted, animals going unsold and bank liabilities mounting, Hindu cattle sellers, Muslim buyers and workers linked to the livestock economy say a long-standing rural trade network is under severe strain just before one of the busiest festival seasons of the year.

The controversy has also reached the Calcutta High Court. Petitions challenging the new livestock slaughter guidelines have been filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, including Mahua Moitra and Akhruzzaman. Although the hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, 20 May, it was deferred after the state sought an adjournment, with the matter now likely to be taken up on Thursday.

The West Bengal unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation has also sought urgent judicial intervention against the BJP-led state government's move to invoke the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950, to allegedly restrict ritual livestock sacrifice.

Speaking outside the court, Moitra argued that the notification would inflict heavy economic losses on poor households across communities. “It is not merely the Muslim community that will be affected; many Hindu traders also earn their livelihood by selling cattle during Eid-ul-Adha,” she said.

Invoking Section 12 of the law, she added: “Legal sanction exists for this. We have requested permission, only for this year and specifically for the festival period, to allow the slaughter of buffaloes or oxen while excluding cows.”

Although the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act dates back to 1950, traders say earlier administrations rarely enforced it stringently. For decades, cattle trade operated openly, especially around Eid-ul-Adha, when demand for animals rises sharply due to the Islamic practice of qurbani.

Many Hindu cattle traders, particularly from the Goala or Gopa community, depend on cattle rearing as a primary source of income. Families run dairies, sell milk and paneer, and traditionally sell ageing or non-milch cattle during festival periods. Traders say they often take bank loans months in advance to purchase livestock and fodder in preparation for the Eid market.

That economic cycle, they say, has now been thrown into disarray. “Why is the BJP not allowing us to sell our cows to Muslims? Muslims never harm us. They did not say anything like this before the elections. Why is the BJP stopping us from trading with them? Give us poison then,” said Prakash Rai, a Hindu cattle trader.

Another trader from the Goala community, Dipa Ghosh, questioned how families would survive financially. “How can we repay the banks? What will we do with these animals now? We have no sheds to keep them,” she said.

Community leaders and researchers say the relationship between Hindu sellers and Muslim buyers has historically been driven by economic interdependence rather than communal identities. Muslim buyers create strong seasonal demand during Eid, while the cattle economy also sustains workers in transport, meat processing, leather production and livestock markets.

According to reports from the sector, stricter enforcement measures and abattoir closures have already caused financial hardship for working-class households, particularly among Dalits and lower-caste Hindus employed in cattle-linked industries.

The latest enforcement drive followed notices issued around 13 and 14 May by the BJP-led state government under chief minister Suvendu Adhikari. Authorities said they were implementing the existing 1950 law and a 2018 Calcutta High Court order, maintaining that cattle and buffalo slaughter without proper certification remained illegal and punishable.

Police officials said agencies had been instructed to intensify action against illegal cattle transportation and unauthorised slaughter. However, legal experts noted that the law requires fitness certification from municipal authorities and veterinary officers, not 'birth certificates' for cattle.

The debate intensified after BJP MLA Rekha Patra reportedly intercepted a cattle transport vehicle in Hingalganj and demanded birth certificates to prove the cows were over 14 years old. “If anyone is found transporting cows illegally, we must catch them and ask them to show the birth certificates of the cows,” she said.

Critics ridiculed the demand, arguing that no functional cattle birth certification system exists in the state and questioning how ordinary farmers could produce documentation that had never previously been issued.

Traders and farmers say obtaining official livestock paperwork is itself a difficult process involving online applications, veterinary verification, inspections, identity documents and fees. Many rural households lack reliable internet access, digital literacy or routine veterinary services.

Dr Subir Das, a veterinary doctor who runs a clinic on Kolkata’s outskirts, said cattle ownership patterns rarely match the documentation demands now being discussed.

“I have treated hundreds of cows during my career. Very few cattle are kept by owners for more than 10 years. Most farmers usually sell their cows after they have bred four or five times and once milk production declines. In most cases, veterinarians check the animal’s health condition and rely on the age stated by the owner,” he said.

The uncertainty has reportedly discouraged many Muslim buyers, some of whom fear inspections, legal complications or harassment. In several markets, traders claim Muslim customers have refrained from purchases altogether.

Religious leaders including Maulana Shafique Qasmi and Maulana Shabbir Misbahi have urged worshippers to comply with regulations and, where necessary, opt for goats or sheep instead of cattle for qurbani.

Political leaders across parties have also raised concerns about the economic fallout. ISF leader Naushad Siddiqui said both Hindu and Muslim traders were facing acute financial distress and called for increasing the number of veterinary doctors at panchayat level to enable legal certification before Eid.

Meanwhile, minister Dilip Ghosh defended the enforcement measures, saying the objective was to curb illegal slaughter and cattle smuggling rather than target any community.

But traders argue that a system that functioned for generations under previous Left Front and Trinamool administrations has been abruptly disrupted.

For many rural families, they say, the issue extends beyond politics or religion. With cattle unsold, maintenance costs rising and loan repayments looming, uncertainty surrounding the trade has placed livelihoods under growing pressure ahead of one of the year’s most important festival periods.