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Maha Minister launches "Malhar Certification" to challenge Halal food

To oppose Halal certification, Maharashtra Minister Nitish Rane, known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, on March 10, 2025 launched a website to issue 'Malhar Certification' for those who consume 'Jhatka meat' in Maharashtra

Tuesday March 11, 2025 11:51 PM, Syed Ali Mujtaba

[Representative image]

Mumbai/Chennai: To oppose Halal certification, Maharashtra Minister Nitish Rane, known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, on March 10, 2025 launched a website to issue "Malhar Certification" for those who consume "Jhatka meat" in Maharashtra.

Motives behind Malhar Certification

The certification aims to ensure the availability of non-Halal meat to Hindus and Sikhs supposedly making sure that goat and sheep meat are produced according to the Hindu religious traditions.

In a social media post, Nitesh Rane, Maharashtra Cabinet Minister of Fisheries and Port announced the newly launched website.

Rane emphasized the importance of the initiative for the Hindu community and urged the Hindu community to purchase meat products from the shops that carry "Malhar Certification".

“The new website is designed to connect consumers with certified Jhatka meat vendors. This initiative ensures that all meat shops that specialize in Jhatka meat, are operated exclusively by Hindus from the Hindu Khatik community vendors under a single platform", he said.

The minister asked all Jhatka mutton and chicken vendors across Maharashtra to register under the newly introduced web portal Malhar certification dot com.

“Today, we have taken an important step for the Hindu community of Maharashtra. This initiative will provide Hindus with access to mutton shops that sell Jhatka meat, prepared according to Hindu customs,” the minister said at the launch of the website.

According to the Malhar website, the platform promotes vendors who follow strict Hindu religious practices when preparing meat, ensuring it follows the traditions of the Hindu Khatik community.

The supporters of the Jhatka method, mostly Hindus, believe that it is a more ethical practice of meat consumption than Halal where the animal is killed slowly after prolonged suffering.

Halal vs Jhatka Certifications

The website currently has the listing of about two dozen meat shops – majority of them from Pune, who claimed to supply Jhatka meat.

Strangely, the website is totally silent about the certificate issuing authority and the name and address of the people behind the initiative.

This is unlike Halal Certification which is issued by a competent authority registered by NABCB (National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies under Quality Council of India) as well as World Halal Food Council. The authority operates in close collaboration with with APEDA (Agricultural Products Exports Development Authority of India) and Indian embassies worldwide.

Interestingly, the Indian government itself promotes Halal food. In October 2024, the Narendra Modi Government in New Delhi Tuesday October 01, 2024 streamlined Halal Certification Process for meat and meat products in a move to boost meat exports from India.

However, the proponents of Halal meat say that the Jhatka method of meat processing is an unscientific way and unhygienic method of meat processing. This is because blood does not reins out of the animal body and there are many bacteria left in the animal blood which is harmful for human consumption.

"Communalism in its Monstrous Form"

Mohammed Jinna, the CEO of Halal India Private Limited company, based in Chennai, says, “This is a pre-partition political debate that is coming out from the under-belly of India. The opposition to the Halal certification is nothing but communalism in its monstrous form.”

“Halal is an article of faith for the Muslim. It is opposed to ‘Haram’, which is the core religious belief of the follower of Islam. Muslims never force any non-Muslim to buy Halal products. They give them a choice to buy meat products that are produced hygienically", he said.

“What is evident in the idea of Malhar certification is to shrink the halal meat economy in India that is globally a trillion dollar economy. The duality of the intention can be ascertained by the fact that while the government has given the green signal to the Halal certification for the exports and imports the sick minds are pressuring the government to ban in India", he added.

The other duality is that “while Malhar Certification is openly being flouted, the Halal Certification is opposed. This is post-truth India, the brand new Republic.

The new face of Hindutva elements is to control the food habits of the Indians. Last November, Air India switched to non-Halal food for Hindu and Sikh passengers.

It is reported that the Indian Armed forces are supplied with the Jahtka meat and on those days Muslim Jawans are made to eat vegetarian food.

[Syed Ali Mujtaba is a Journalist. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com]

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