Protesting against a series of attacks on cattle trucks coming to Kerala by pro-Hindutva organisations in Tamil Nadu, slaughter houses and meat shops in Kerala will observe a shutdown on July 29-30.

As a fallout of the ban on beef in some States and the BJP-led Central government’s policies that protect cows, cattle trucks have been routinely waylaid by right-wing outfits in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore and Tirupur districts. As a result, arrival of cattle to Kerala has petered off and slaughter houses are running short of animals.

‘Criminal attacks’



“Trucks carrying cattle from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are waylaid and cattle are taken away after assaulting the truck crew on the way to the Kerala border by criminal gangs,” said KU Kunjumohammed, Ernakulam district secretary of Kerala State Meat Workers Congress. He told Business Line that because of the threat of attacks, truckers are not willing to operate service and cattle traders are afraid to bring in cattle by lorries.

Kunjumohammed said the attacks on the cattle trucks took place at isolated places. In many cases, the gangs took away the cattle purportedly to be handed over to the ‘goshalas’ that have come up recently in Coimbatore. He said the loss of a truckload of cattle would mean a loss of around ₹8 lakh.

Cattle traders said ultra-Hindutva outfits such as Hanuman Sena and Hindu Munnani were, in the pretext animal welfare groups, opposing transport of cattle to Kerala because they promoted cow worship and hence were against meat eating. However, in many cases, the cattle seized from the trucks were sold cheaply and the money pocketed by the gangs.

Meat shortage



Because of the drop in the arrival of cattle from Tamil Nadu, meat has been in short supply across Kerala and the price of beef (mainly buffalo meat) has gone up. Already, scores of meat shops have downed their shutters.

Kunjumohammed said the meat shop keepers and members of his organisation, which is affiliated to INTUC, was backing Tamil Nadu cattle farmers who were up in arms against the illegal prevention of cattle transport.

He urged the Tamil Nadu government to take stern steps against the attack on the trucks. The July 29 march to the Tamil Nadu Secretariat planned by the cattle farmers is also supported by the cattle traders and meat shopkeepers.

Kerala imports cattle from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Buffaloes and bulls coming from Andhra Pradesh are mostly transported through the checkposts in Palakkad district that borders Tamil Nadu, while the cattle from Karnataka arrive in Wayanad district.

There have been several protest marches and demonstrations in Kerala in the recent past against the Centre’s move against beef eating. The DYFI had organised a series of beef-eating festivals as a form of protest.