Livestock markets empty as Eid al-Adha approaches in India's West Bengal

Kolkata, India – Less than a week before Eid al-Adha, the vast Dhulagarh livestock market on the outskirts of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, is unusually quiet. Traders gather in the shade while over 200 cattle, prepared for the festival, remain tied to bamboo poles under the scorching summer sun.

A Hindu seller from East Midnapur district, 130 km southwest of Kolkata, said he had borrowed heavily at high interest to stock up for the two-day festival. In a state with nearly 25 million Muslims (27% of the population), this should be peak business season. But not this year. "Who will buy cows? People are living in fear," the seller said, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation by authorities.

For decades, Dhulagarh market was where Hindu sellers and Muslim buyers met ahead of the ritual sacrifice. Although a 1950 law bans public cattle slaughter, West Bengal—under centrist or left-wing rule—never enforced it strictly. That changed on May 6, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in West Bengal for the first time.

A week after the election, new Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari ordered strict enforcement of the 1950 law, requiring a "fitness for slaughter" certificate from government officials and limiting slaughter to licensed abattoirs. The law also stipulates that cattle must be over 14 years old to be killed. Many upper-caste Hindus consider cows sacred; slaughter is banned in most Indian states. Since 2014, vigilante cow-protection groups have killed dozens of Muslims and Hindu farmers across the country.

'Burgers have no religion'

After the BJP victory, beef sellers across West Bengal reported sharp sales drops. A Kolkata restaurant, Burger Shop, announced it would stop selling beef burgers. "Our burgers have no religion. But politics does," they posted on Instagram. Co-owner Utsha said their beef supplier shut down after being summoned by police and asked to suspend business. Beef prices plunged from 400 rupees/kg ($5) to 150 rupees ($1.70).

Mohammad Hasim, 65, owner of two butcher shops in Kolkata's New Market, told Al Jazeera: "We have been selling meat for 60 years, always licensed. For decades we knew peace. But in the past few weeks, everything changed. Suppliers are afraid, small eateries no longer buy raw meat from us. Now we close at 1:30 PM instead of 7 PM."

Haider Ali, 62, owner of a licensed butcher shop, said eateries "out of fear" stopped sourcing from him.

'Heavy losses'

At Dhulagarh market, three Hindu sellers lamented their losses. One said that even after selling a few, they still lose about 5,000 rupees ($53) per unsold animal. Sundor, a Muslim trader, said he borrowed 1 million rupees ($10,500) against his mother's jewelry to buy cattle. "Last year I sold nearly 100 cows. This year, none of my 25 have sold. I am genuinely scared," Sundor said.

BJP spokesman Debjit Sarkar defended the enforcement, saying: "Laws that were not followed earlier are now being strictly implemented." Lawyer Jayasimha Nuggehalli argued that cattle slaughter bans are often presented as animal welfare measures, but "their design and enforcement are more about identity, commerce, and rural livelihoods."

Restrictions on street prayers

Beyond the beef ban, residents of several Muslim-majority neighborhoods say newly elected BJP legislators have asked them not to offer namaz (prayers) on the streets—a common practice due to lack of mosque space. In the Mullick Bazaar and Park Circus areas, heavily Muslim ahead of the festival, vendors say business is almost nonexistent. "The market is empty. It has never been like this," one seller said anonymously.

Activist and writer Harsh Mander observed: "For the last 100 years, the RSS [Hindu nationalist organization] has never accepted the idea of equal citizenship for Muslims. What the BJP is doing is implementing that agenda—an open war against its own citizens."