Why Uttar Pradesh govt's crackdown on halal is too close to the bone

Uttar Pradesh's ban on halal-certified products has transformed into a legal and political hot pot, tenderising the landscape and carving up a lucrative market

On November 21, following a November 18 order from the Food Security and Drug Administration department of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government that banned the “manufacture, sale, storage, and distribution of halal-certified products with immediate effect in the state from the view of public health”, state police raided shopping malls in Gorakhpur to seize halal products.

No halal-certified products were found in the seven or eight places that the teams visited. Since then, products totalling less than Rs 20,000 have been seized in various places in UP, including Basti, officials say.

Niaz Ahmed Farooqui, chief executive officer of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Halal Trust (JUHHT), is not surprised.

Speaking to Business Standard from Istanbul, where he is currently visiting, he said, “We issue halal certification in the non-food category only for items that are to be exported. The UP government’s order exempts items meant for export.”

He gave an example: around 90 sugar mills, including many from UP, regularly get halal certification from the JUHHT to export sugar to Islamic countries.

“While we certify all the sugar as halal — because you cannot have half the sugar produced by a mill as halal and half as haram — the packages marked halal are only sent to other countries. Please tell me how often you’ve spotted sugar, oil, or atta packets in your local grocery store marked halal,” he asked, adding, “local mein kabhi zaroorat hi nahin hoti” (“there is never a need for it locally”).

However, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), which is committed to “the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra”, believes it has notched up one victory and is seeking another.

This organisation has been petitioning UP Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath since 2017 to ban all halal-certified products altogether on the grounds that this discriminates against Indian citizens on the basis of religion, which is antithetical to the Constitution.

The HJS has influential patrons, including Thakur Raja Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly from Telangana.

It now seeks a similar ban in Goa and has given a memorandum to CM Pramod Sawant to that effect.

The riposte from the Opposition has been relatively muted so far.

Congress leaders in UP, like its chief, Ajay Rai, and Swami Prasad Maurya, have questioned the UP government’s priorities and dubbed the ban divisive.

UP Spokesman of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Ameeque Jamei, says he cannot understand the UP government’s order: “India is the biggest meat exporter to the world, and most of this export is to Muslim countries. This export amounts to around Rs 1.25 trillion. Muslim countries only want halal-certified meat, and such certificates are issued by religious bodies. Of the top 20 meat exporters, 18 are non-Muslims. If halal certification is banned, it will cause revenue loss to the country. However, if the government goes ahead with this ban, then the SP will have no objection.”

Of course, he omits to mention the fact that the current ban does not apply to exports.

The HJS’ objections are more fundamental.

They relate to the primacy of Shariah law in labelling items. It wants the government to step in and end all activity — commercial, export, or otherwise — that puts Shariah above civil law and institutions, in this case, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defined the issue in similar terms. “Food quality and testing are essentially government functions. The government should do this work, not non-governmental organisations. For this, we have the FSSAI,” she told reporters last week in Hyderabad.

Among the agencies that the UP government names as being ineligible to certify products as halal are JUHHT (Delhi), the Halal Council of India (Mumbai), Jamiat Ulama (Maharashtra), and Halal India (Chennai).

In extensive documentation that includes endorsement by the Quality Council of India and India’s Ministry of Commerce, Halal India lays out the factual position: that it is the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority under the Ministry of Commerce that dictates stringent conditions for bodies seeking to certify food for export as being halal-compliant. This directive is recent — January 2023.

Halal India meets all the requirements. The spokesman for the company, Mohamed Huzaifa, lists many reasons why halal-compliant products are healthier.

The crux of the problem is obvious.

No state government can have a say in banning the certification of products that are exported, as exports come under the purview of the central government. But amid the growing assertion that, whether for export or internal consumption, all halal-certified products must be withdrawn, this matter is becoming both legally and politically contentious.

In April 2022, controversial lawyer Vibhor Anand filed a public interest litigation via Advocate on Record R K Tomar in the Supreme Court that is awaiting a hearing. One of the respondents is Patanjali Ayurved.

The petition asks the government to declare all halal certificates “right from 1974 as null and void ab initio”.

It seeks a ban on all the products that have been certified by Jamiat Ulama, Halal Certification Services India, JUHHT, or Halal India, and it wants the court to issue a ban to these bodies and “all the other local and multinational companies operating in India to withdraw all halal-certified food and other consumable products from markets across the country”.

A 2022 report prepared by investment advisory DinarStandard and Dubai Economy & Tourism says that despite the pandemic, the world’s 1.9 billion Muslims spent the equivalent of $2 trillion in 2021 across the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, fashion, travel, and media/recreation sectors.

Of the exporters to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries, China was on top (exports amounting to $25.4 billion), followed closely by India ($22.2 billion).

Halal certification is an essential part of this trade.

FAITH ON THE GRILL: BAN STIRS THE POT

GLOBAL SPENDING POWERHOUSE
 

1.9 billion Muslims assert their economic prowess, funnelling $2 trillion in 2021 across critical sectors like food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, fashion, travel, and media/recreation

EXPORT TITANS TO OIC NATIONS
 

China takes the lead, exporting a formidable $25.4 billion, with India in close pursuit at $22.2 billion

HALAL CERTIFICATION DYNAMICS
 

Halal certification emerges as a linchpin, exemplified by India’s annual exports of meat and meat products valued at Rs 26,000 crore

REGULATORY VOID IN INDIA

India grapples with a regulatory gap, lacking an official body for certifying halal products

CERTIFICATION EMPOWERMENT
 

Various halal certifying agencies play a pivotal role, bestowing certifications upon companies, products, and food establishments to ensure compliance with halal standards

NODAL AGENCY FOR OVERSIGHT

Draft guidelines propose the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority under the Ministry of Commerce as the central nodal agency to monitor and regulate the halal certification process