NAN-F-24
Cows
New Delhi, March 27, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Slaughterhouse crackdown on Monday sparked by Hindu concerns that sacred cows were being slaughtered clandestinely , prompted Indian meat sellers to go on strike.
Officially, the crackdown in Uttar Pradesh is against illegal slaughterhouses.
The effort has exposed religious differences, as many of the meat sellers are from the minority Muslim community, while the state is run by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
BJP was returned to power in a landslide earlier this month, partially due to an election manifesto that promised action after several of its leaders alleged that some abattoirs were clandestinely slaughtering cows.
Hindus regard the cow as a holy animal. Its slaughter and consumption is banned in most Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh.
The meat sellers said they were going on strike indefinitely. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza