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