The BJP-led government’s ally and NDA constituent, the Republican Party of India-A, on Tuesday staged a protest against the beef ban in Maharashtra.

RPI-A chief and Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athawale led a rally of beef traders in front of the Collector’s Office in suburban Bandra. The Deonar abattoir in Chembur — the largest slaughterhouse in Asia — also remained shut down as butchers went on a boycott.

The protesters submitted a memorandum to the Collector calling for the lifting of the ban on the slaughter of bulls and bullocks in the State.

Mr. Athawale assured the beef traders that he would take their concerns to the government and if necessary hold more protests.

While the legal tussle over the ban is on at the Bombay High Court, the intensity of the protests has lessened. The morchas, meetings and numerous memorandums submitted by trader organisations have been ignored by the BJP-led government.

“There is no response from their side. But we will continue with our protests. It’s a matter of our livelihood. Thousands of people are being rendered jobless due to the ban,” Abdul Qureshi of the Mumbai Beef Traders Association told The Hindu. The most severely affected by the ban is Mr. Qureshi’s community, which is traditionally involved in butchery.

Cattle slaughter, in varying degrees

State variations: the average person from Nagaland eats half a kilo of beef per month, while the average person from Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh doesn’t eat any.

The meat of the matter

There are two parts of food habits that we find people always have a lot of interest in: regional differences, and meat-eating.

Vegetarianism, tolerance and discrimination

"Where the executive is making intolerant orders and the courts are routinely upholding them"