VOA慢速英語: 印度馬哈拉施特拉邦禁止販賣牛肉

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Last week, the western Indian state of Maharashtrabanned beef consumption. The state government has barred possession orsales of the meat.

Hindu groups welcomed the ban. But many Muslims in western India havecriticized it. They say it will make tens of thousands of people jobless.

Hindus consider cows holy. The animals are already protected in India. But, the new law extends the ban to slaughtering bulls, bullocks, and calves.

The ban took effect on March 5. On that day, many slaughter houses inMaharashtra suddenly closed. Beef disappeared from the menus ofrestaurants, including those in the state capital, Mumbai.

Under the new law, having or selling beef could lead to fines or prison terms ofup to five years. The Bharatiya Janata Party passed the law. The BJP woncontrol of the state government last year.

The party attempted to ban beef 20 years ago when it was also in power. But the ban was never passed because the BJP lost power soon after.

Mohammad Ali Qureshi is president of the Mumbai Suburban Beef DealersAssociation. He said the ban will have a bad effect on tens of thousands ofbutchers, beef retailers, and others involved in the trade.

He said many of those affected are among the poorest people in the area.They have little or no education, and cannot easily get other jobs. He saidpeople have become jobless without notice.

FILE - Rescued cattle at a cow shelter in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Beef consumption in India is limited to non-Hindus. But the country hasbecome the world’s second-biggest exporter of beef. Most of the meat comesfrom buffaloes.

Hindu groups do not like that India is a major exporter of beef. They say manycows are being illegally killed.

Muslims control most of the beef trade. Banning beef has become a majorissue between India’s Hindus and Muslims.

Venkatesh Abdev is with the World Hindu Council. He says his group will fightfor a nationwide ban on beef consumption. Mr. Abdev agrees that the ban willaffect people working in the beef trade. But he says it is a price to be paid. Henotes the killing of cows is a very emotional issue for Hindus.

Mohammad Shahid Sheikh is president of a beef transporters group inDeonar, where one can find India’s biggest slaughterhouse. He says moreand more trucks with cattle are being attacked. The attacks are blamed onHindu activists.

Mr. Sheikh says those in the beef trade tell protesters that they are following allof the rules. But the protesters say they will do everything they can to preventthe animals from being killed.

The beef ban also became a top trend on Twitter last week. Some Twitterusers supported the move, but thousands criticized the ban. Some userscompared the progress made on protecting cows to the lack of progress onsafety for women.