NEW DELHI, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Meat sellers across the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Monday began an indefinite strike against the police crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses ordered by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
"We have decided to intensify our strike from Monday. All shops will remain closed. The crackdown on slaughterhouses has adversely hit the livelihood of lakhs of people," Mubeen Qureshi, an office-bearer of the Lucknow Meatseller's Association, told the media.
Yogi Adityanath, a 44-year-old saint who became the chief minister after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won the recent assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, is a strong supporter of laws protecting cows and has publicly opposed beef consumption.
Soon after assuming office, one of his first acts was to instruct police officials to crack down on illegal slaughterhouses in the state.
But many meat sellers alleged that police were raiding even those slaughterhouses that dealt with goats and buffaloes legally.
However, a senior minister in the state, Siddharth Nath Singh, reiterated that the crackdown was only on illegal slaughterhouses and abattoirs operating legally would not be touched.
"Those who have licences need not worry," the minister said.
Singh said that meat sellers had been given enough time to regularize their businesses since India's green court, the National Green Tribunal, banned all illegal slaughterhouses in the state, directing the local authorities to ensure regulation of meat shops.
Most of the butcher shops and slaughterhouses -- legal of illegal -- in Uttar Pradesh are owned and run by Muslims who make up 18 percent of the state's population.
