In an exclusive interview with News Intervention, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) President Alok Kumar highlighted the dangers of Halal economy or Halalonomics.
VHP President points out the exclusivist nature of Halalonomics
While expressing his objection to the exclusivist nature of Halal, Kumar cautioned, “This is the economic expansionism of Islam. We are for a secular economy.” He cited the example of England where all restaurants have Halal certification, despite Muslims constituting only 4% of the population. Kumar further added, “It (Halalonomics) is a sort of economic domination of the principles, tenets and people of Islam over the followers of other religions.”
The VHP President informed that even Baba Ramdev, and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar have procured Halal certification for the sale of their products. “That Halal certification is given by designated Muslim organisations and they charge a hefty fee for that. So, they get enriched for their religious affairs. We pay for that in the form of the increased price of the goods and then from the meat they travel to food, medicines, and now a mall is coming up in Gurugram which proclaims that it is Halal-certified,” he emphasised.
Halal is cruel and has religious objections, observes VHP President
“Halal is rather a very cruel way of killing an animal. Killing an animal to a person like me is bad, but killing the animal with merciless cruelty is the worst.” The VHP President expressed happiness over the rising awareness and campaign to curb Halal meat and promotion of Jhatka. “…The serving of meat should not be restricted to serving only Halal meat including in the Indian Army,” he emphasised.
Emphasising on the cruelty of Halal practice, he stated, “Somebody told me about a Shabad in Gurbani which ordains them not to eat Halal meat…So there are religious objections also and there are objections on the point of cruelty, and three we see it as an organised conspiracy to impose Islamic perceptions and tenets on us. And the money in the certification of Halal goes to them. So, I see every reason to propagate that there should be no exclusivity in food.”
VHP president suspects use of Halal money for promoting Islamic terrorism
Alok Kumar discussed how he believes that funds from the Halal economy are used to fund Islamic terrorism. He stated, “Lots of money is being collected by Islamic organisations which are approved for Halal certification. We do really suspect that the money from those sources may be directed towards Islamic propagation and terrorism.”
Alok Kumar has clarified that even though VHP has not taken any decision at an organisational level, the concern remains as to how Halal economics is detrimental to ‘religious amity.’ He stated, “And for a secular economy, we will join the fight as individuals.”
Halal is discriminatory against non-Muslims
In recent times, there has been a great controversy surrounding Halal. It can only be performed by a Muslim man and therefore, in a meat industry where Halal is the norm, non-Muslims are automatically being denied employment. Thus, non-Muslims have taken objection to the surreptitious normalisation of the practice across vast sections of the meat industry in India.
