How the BJP's Rise to Power is Making Beef Vanish from West Bengal's Plates

Kolkata's sole slaughterhouse, located in the Tangra neighbourhood, stands empty during weekday afternoons. Run by the city’s municipal corporation, the colonial-era building features giant iron gates locked from the inside, where local schoolboys occasionally climb the walls to play in the campus. Mohammad Mehmood Alam, manager of a roadside eatery opposite the facility, notes that the desolation began after the facility was shut down in May. On May 13, the West Bengal government issued a notice on bovine slaughter, just four days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the state legislature elections, ending the 15-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress party (TMC), which is nationally in opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.

The document mandates strict compliance with the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950, restricting the slaughter of cows, bulls, bullocks, calves, and specified buffaloes to animals above 14 years of age that are unfit for work or breeding, or permanently incapacitated. It also prohibits slaughter in open public places and requires municipal designation. Compounding this, the annual renewal of meat suppliers' licences has been stalled since the dissolution of the city’s municipal corporation in June following the resignation of outgoing mayor Firhad Hakim, with civic elections scheduled for December.

The impact has been immediate and lasting. Traders like Mushtaq, whose family has supplied beef for six generations, have seen their livelihoods halted for more than three months without a single penny of income. Prices have surged from 200-250 rupees to 350-500 rupees per kilogramme, while sales have dropped by 50 percent. Eateries like Alam's have removed dishes like beef stew and reduced their beef offerings due to erratic supply, variable quality, and customers fearing public scrutiny under the new political climate.

Historically, West Bengal has recorded some of India's highest beef consumption rates, particularly among rural and urban households, Muslims, Christians, and certain Dalit and Indigenous communities. While the underlying laws are not new, their stringent enforcement has escalated under the BJP. Businessmen like Alfaz Laiq chose to shut down dairy operations in Burdwan and sell retired cows at massive losses to avoid harassment, predicting that beef could become a relic of the past in the state.

Across neighbourhoods like Park Circus and commercial hubs like Park Street, restaurants and shops report severe losses and supply shortages. Iconic establishments such as the Zam Zam Restaurant have removed all beef dishes from their menus across three branches, while Olypub offers its famous beef steak only when supplies permit. Officials like Smita Pandey, commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and Nikhil Kumar Shit, director of animal husbandry and veterinary services, point to bureaucratic jurisdiction overlaps regarding the Tangra slaughterhouse and licence renewals.

Beyond Kolkata, cities like Baruipur and districts like Malda are experiencing severe shortages and secret supply networks, forcing residents to navigate rising food costs and risks to maintain dietary traditions amidst an uncertain future for beef in West Bengal.