Strange as it may seem, the biggest ‘beef’ exporters and owners of ‘slaughter houses’ in the country are not Muslims but members belonging to the majority community. It is but an irony that whenever the words ‘beef’ and ‘slaughter house’ are mentioned, the thought of Muslims flashes across the mind of the general masses. Who consume ‘beef’? Pat comes the reply: ‘Muslims’! Who runs ‘slaughter houses’? Again ‘Muslims, and who else?’! Who are the people engaged in the lucrative business of ‘beef supply’ at the highest scale? Even most of the members of the Muslim community will not be be able to give correct reply, not to say of our Hindu brethren. The correct and the most tantalising and unbelievable answer is: ‘they are all members of the majority community’. Below is a brief description focusing upon the truth encompassing the ‘beef business and slaughter houses’.
It is notable that out of the 74 slaughter houses, approved and licensed by the Union Ministry of Commerce, ten big slaughter houses are owned and run by our Hindu brethren. Out of these ten slaughter houses, the most outstanding are mentioned below:
Al-Kabeer: Situated in the district of Medak of Telangana in the south, Al-Kabeer is the biggest slaughter house in the country. Spreading over an area of about 440 acres, this slaughter house is owned by S. Subarwal and is run by his firm named ‘Al-Kabeer Exporters Pvt. Ltd’, which is recognised as the biggest Indian company for exporting ‘beef’. It has established offices at several places in the Middle East, such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Jeddah, Dammam, Madinah, Riyadh, Masqat and Doha. During the course of discussion with a reporter, Al-Kabeer’s Chairman, S. Subarwal declared: ‘Religion and business are two entirely different matters. These two things must not be looked at with one angle. What is the problem if some Hindus are engaged in business dealing in ‘beef’ or some Muslims run monetary business involving ‘interest’? It is to be noted that Al-Kabeer’s business involves money transaction around 650 crores of rupees annually.
Arabian Exporters Pvt. Limited: It has its Head-Office in the Raisin Mansion in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company exports lambs’ mutton also besides beef. The Company’s Board of Directors includes V.N. Kudmalay, S.M. Shundey and Ashok Narang.
M.K.R. Frozen Food Exporters Pvt. Ltd.: This firm is owned by Madan Aibet. Firm’s Head-Office is situated in Delhi. Aibet Cold Storage Pvt. Ltd. Has its slaughter house in the Mohali district of Punjab. Its director is Sunny Aibet.
Al-Noor Exporters: The owner of this firm is Sunil Sood and its office is in Delhi but the firm’s slaughter house and processing plant is situated in Muzaffarnagar of Uttar Pradesh. Besides, its plants are in Meerut and Mumbai also. The firm’s other partner is Ajay Sood. The company was established in 1992 and is credited of supplying ‘beef’ to almost 35 countries.
Standard Frozen Foods Exporters Pvt. Ltd: The firm’s Managing Director is Kamal Verma. The firm’s slaughter house and processing plant is in the village of Chandpur of Unnao of Uttar Pradesh. Its office is situated at Shivpuri of Hapur, U.P.
Poney Products Exporters: S. Sasti Kumar is the Director of this firm. Besides ‘beef’, the company deals in the business of Eggs, Chickens also. Plant of the company is in Tamil Nadu.
Ashwini Agro Exporters: Slaughterhouse of the mentioned firm is situated at Gandhi Nagar of Tamil Nadu. Company’s director, Rajendaran keeps religion and business separated from one another. He says, “Religion is wholly a personal thing. It (religion) ought not to have any connection with business”. But, at the same time Rajendaran confesses that because of this business he had to face some troubles. According to him (Rajendaran) the local officers have had harassed him on several occasions.
Maharashtra Food Processing: Sunny Ghatter, the Partner of Maharashtra Food Processing and Cold Storage, also holds the same view that ‘religion and business are two different things and it would be totally wrong to combine these two into one. He further says, ‘What happens if I, being a Hindu, am engaged in ‘beef’ business?’ He (Ghatter) goes on saying that there is no evil if a Hindu runs such sort of a business. I do not become a bad Hindu because of running this business’. The slaughterhouse of this firm is situated at Filtan in the district of Sitara of Maharashtra.
Barring the aforementioned Beef Exporting companies, owned by our non-Muslim brethren, there are also some companies which do not have abattoirs but deal in processing and exporting of beef. All these are owned by Hindu brethren. Cuttack Traders happens to be such a company. It is situated in Odisha. Rajesh Swamy, the proprietor of this company, says that ‘in this business there is no distinction between Hindu and Muslim. Members of both the communities run the business with the feeling and sense of togetherness, enlivened with the spirit of brotherhood. Business is not affected and hampered in the name of religion’. He also expresses his view that in the event of slaughterhouses being closed down, ‘both Hindus and Muslims will incur heavy loss and are likely to suffer’.
It must not be ignored and discarded that at the middle level of organisation and administration a large number of Hindu officials have been discharging their responsibilities as directors, quality controllers and advertisers, though they are not owners.
The above facts and figures are taken from an article written by Permod Mullick in Urdu and published in a Kolkata-based Urdu fortnightly Istaqlal in its issue dated 30 April, 2017.
In conclusion, I dare say that our patriotism does not rest upon ‘beef and abattoirs’. A self-aware, self-conscious and self-confident patriot would take just pride in the achievements this country has made in nurturing a democratic ethos and in reducing mass poverty, while being fully aware of the defects that still mar our republic, such as the corruption and corrosion of public institutions, the continuing attacks on Dalits, Muslims and women and the persistence of sectarian violence. That is the open minded, reflective, self-critical patriotism that Tagore and Gandhi bequeathed us. We have been passing through a very critical juncture of time. It is the duty of every right-thinking and judicious person to adopt every possible measure to thwart the ugly design and ulterior motive of the communal-minded politicians and members of apolitical organisations.