Bengaluru: After the hijab ban, Karnataka is contemplating a ban on halal meat ahead of the 2023 Assembly election to give its Hindutva agenda a hard push.
The Government seems to have made its groundwork by getting a private bill moved through Ravi Kumar, a member of the Upper House and the BJP’s general secretary.
The Government’s official stand is it is yet to take a call on whether it would back the bill. “Let’s see when it comes; private member bill has its own position. We will see what it is,” Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is quoted as saying to news agencies.
Mr Ravi Kumar claims that halal certification is done by Muslim bodies which “charge huge fees for certification” and are making huge profits from this.
According to him, the “identity and status” of the Muslim bodies is unclear, the bill proposes that “halal certification be banned, till a recognised is authority appointed”.
Mr Kumar had earlier written to Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot on the issue.
Following up the issue, he has now written to the Chairman of the Legislative Council, seeking permission to introduce the Bill to amend the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, to ban any private person or organisation from issuing certification of foods.
The letter claims the proposed amendment will not put any financial burden on the government and will, rather, bring in an additional revenue of `5,000 crore for the state exchequer.
