On June 26, a tender notice was published in the local classified section of newspapers where Welham Boys School, a prominent boarding school in Dehradun, invited bids for supplying Halal meat and poultry products.
Retaliating against the ‘Halal’ specification for meat procurement, the Dehradun chapter of Bajrang Dal urged the Police to take action against the school. As per reports, Bajrang Dal activists protested outside the school premises and demanded school authorities call back the tender.
देहरादून में हिंदू विद्यार्थियों को जबरन हलाल खिलाने के षड्यंत्र पर बजरंगदल ने रोक लगवाई है।
— Vishva Hindu Parishad -VHP (@VHPDigital) July 1, 2021
जब भी हिन्दू आस्था पर चोट होगी, बजरंगदल ऐसे ही मुकाबला करेगा..
Why serve Halal meat when the majority of students are Hindu, asked Bajrang Dal
OpIndia talked to Vikas Verma, City Convenor of Bajrang Dal, about the whole case. Verma said the majority of the students at the school belong to the Hindu community. “We are unable to understand why the school wants to impose meat butchered by Islamic method on Hindu children.”
वेल्हम बॉयज स्कूल के विरुद्ध बजरंग दल का गुस्सा हिंदू छात्रों को खिला रहे हैं हलाल का मांस @VijayVst0502 @vinod_bansal @TIRATHSRAWAT pic.twitter.com/IEhhFvb504
— विकास वर्मा (भगवा)–विभाग संयोजक बजरंग दल (@Vikasvrms) June 29, 2021
Bajrang Dal has filed a complaint at Dalanwala Police station and wrote to CM, Uttarakhand as well. In the complaint, the organization said that there are students from every community in the school. “The tender for Halal meat is an insult to Hindu students and community. With this complaint, we would like to bring the matter to your notice and urge you to take immediate action to recall the tender.” The organization further said that in case the administration and Police fail to take any action against the school, they will take the matter to the roads and call for protests across the city.
‘It is an attempt to fan communal tension’: Bajrang Dal
Verma called it an attempt to fan communal tension in the region and said Police must take immediate action against the school. He said when they approached the school administration about the tender, they informed the organization members that the school serves both Halal and Jhatka meat at school on a daily basis. “However, when we asked for documentation for any tender they had flouted in the past calling for bids for Jhatka meat, no one in school administration was able to provide any documents.”
School failed to show previous tenders for Jhatka meat
Mahesh Kandpal, Vice Principal of Welham School, told News18 that the tender for Halal has already been floated, but for Jhatka, it would be floated on Saturday. Interestingly, while talking to Jagran, School Principal said that Halal and Jhatka meat is served three days a week, respectively. She also added that they have different suppliers for Halal and Jhatka meat. Notably, when we accessed the tender floated by the school, there were several products on the list like bread, pulses, rice etc. It is unknown why would school flout a separate tender just for Jhatka meat.
Police hesitating to take action, says Bajrang Dal
Verma further added that Dehradun Police is hesitating to take action against the school. They claim there are no provisions under the law to file a case on the school. Manibhushan Shrivastava, the Station in charge of Dalanwala, said they had received the complaint and the Police will investigate the case.
‘Hindu and Sikh butchers are losing jobs’
Verma said that as a result of such biased in favour of Halal meat is harming Hindu and Sikh butchers. The butcher community within Hindus and Sikhs are losing business to Halal suppliers who are predominantly Muslims. Reports suggest that there are roughly 40-million Hindus and Sikhs all over the country associated with the Butchering business. “By promoting Halal meat, institutes, restaurants, and other establishments are causing harm to these communities,” added Verma.
Do not eat at Halal-serving restaurants if they deny eating Jhatka meat
While talking to Pahad TV, Verma suggested a simple method of testing if the eateries are discriminatory towards Hindu and Sikh butchers. He said to take a dish prepared with Jhatka meat and ask the eatery owner to eat it. If he refuses to do so, never eat at the establishment. “The idea is to encourage people to learn what Halal means. If someone searches about the Halal method, he would understand how painful the process is for the animal,” he added.
Halal vs Jhatka
In the last few years, Hindu and Sikh communities have started to raise voice against Halal products. Interestingly, Halal is no longer limited to meat products but has penetrated to vegetarian products too. It is common to find “Halal Certified” stamps on vegetarian items like biscuits, flour, rice and other products in the market. Experts believe that through such certification is not government-approved, it is still legal at the same time. The Muslim community is using Halal certification to ensure their methods are followed by business establishments even if their products or services have nothing to do with Islam.
It is notable here that Halal is a method of slaughtering an animal for meat. In Islam, it is mandatory to eat Halal meat only. The business of Halal Certification exclusively benefits Muslims. By definition, Halal can only be performed by a Muslim man. Thus, non-Muslims are automatically denied employment at a Halal firm.
Additionally, there are a number of other requirements which make sure that the entire process is exclusive for Muslims in terms of employment and benefit.
The voice against Halal is showing results
In January 2021, it was reported that restaurants and retailers in South Delhi would have to compulsorily display what meat they are selling as per the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. In the same month, the first-ever non-Halal restaurant opened in Kerala, Ernakulam district. Even Christian outfits have raised their voice against Halal propaganda of the particular community. In September 2020, VHP had called an increasing number of Halal products in the market and ‘economic expansionism of Islam’ and warned against it. Though the voices against Halal imposition is making headlines, there is still a lot that can be done to stop it.
Verma said if needed, Bajrang Dal would not hold back from bringing the matter to roads and protest against all eateries and establishments that force Halal on non-Muslim communities.
