Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath brought up the government’s pivotal decision to outlaw the Halal certification label saying that the money is “misused for terrorism, love jihad and religious conversions. He said this on 21st October while speaking at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) centenary event.
He presented the case of Jalaluddin also known as Chhangur Baba who operated a conversion racket in Balrampur and offered varying sums of money to convert Hindu girls from different castes to illustrate his point.
“When purchasing any item, check if it has a Halal certification label. Every product has it. We have banned it in UP. Today, no one in Uttar Pradesh will dare to buy or sell it. You will be surprised to know that soaps, clothes, lamps and several such items have these certificates. I was shocked and told an officer that there was a conspiracy,” CM Yogi expressed.
CM Yogi wittily provided the example of a matchbox and stated that it cannot be utilized in a Halal manner as only Jhatka is effective. “What could be a greater fraud than that (selling the matchbox with halal certification),” he asked.
“When the government initiated the proceedings, Rs 25,000 crore was earned through halal certification within the country while no agency of the Indian Government or state government had recognised it. All this money is misused for terrorism, love jihad as well as religious conversions and hence Uttar Pradesh has began a massive action against it,” he pointed out.
हलाल सर्टिफिकेशन हमने यूपी में बैन किया है…
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) October 21, 2025
हलाल सर्टिफिकेशन के नाम पर एक फूटी कौड़ी भी नहीं देनी है,
यह पैसा आपके खिलाफ षड्यंत्र में जाता है… pic.twitter.com/GnWNK9SmC0
CM Yogi stated that strict action must be taken against those who exploit Indian customers in the name of Halal certification and we should also remain vigilant about it.
“When buying something, always remember that you are required to pay GST but ensure that you do not give a single penny for Halal certification as the money will be used for conspiracies against you which is a common occurrence. Jalauddin alias Chhangur Baba is only one example. We have apprehended and incarcerated him. Such individuals may be lurking in your neighborhoods, disguising themselves in misleading attire or with a duplicitous facade. Stay alert to their activities,” he further conveyed.
CM Yogi previously mentioned that Jalaluddin was under scrutiny for three years to compile evidence against him before starting legal proceedings. He recounted, “I reviewed the progress on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, before we could bring the matter to conclusion, he escaped six months prior. I was angry as our entire mission was on the verge of failure. You may be surprised to learn that aside from the teams working with me, no senior official or public representative believed that his name was not Chhangur Baba but rather Jalaluddin. They all assumed his name was Chhangur Baba.”
“Even the media portrayed him in the same light following his arrest. Nevertheless, we insisted on using his actual name, which is Jalaluddin. He ran a conversion racket and was involved in illegal and anti-national activities. He even supplied funds for the conversion of Hindu girls. Where did he obtain the money? Even you would not know the source. It did not come from another country. It was your money,” the chief minister outlined.
Uttar Pradesh banned Halal certification
The Food Safety and Drug Administration Commissioner issued an order on 18th November 2023, stating public health concerns to immediately prohibit the production, storage, distribution and sale of “Halal certified” food products. Cosmetics, medications and edibles are among the “Halal-certified items” that were banned.
According to the Uttar Pradesh government’s notification, the certification was a parallel system since the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India was established in the country to assess food quality. It also went against the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which established the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The Uttar Pradesh government laid out the halal certification procedure to the Supreme Court on 21st January, noting that a number of non-vegeterian items were also marked as “halal certified,” which means that these had to adhere to Islamic law’s requirements. On behalf of the government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued the state was surprised to learn that items other than meat, such as cement, iron rods, water bottles, etc., needed halal certification.
“So far as Halal meat etc. is concerned, nobody can have any objection but even cement used is to be halal-certified. Sariyas (iron bars) used have to be halal-certified. Water bottles are required to be halal-certified. Even atta (wheat flour) and besan (chickpea flour) have to be halal-certified. How can besan halal or non-halal,” he contended.
Mehta further voiced, “Another concern. Suppose I am Sikh and for me, halal meat is prohibited. Halal would mean that the animal would die slowly. Other religion says that you should not. Then he will have to consume halal because it has to be halal certified. There are several issues, my lord.”
A parallel economy which is discriminatory and funds nefarious objectives
For a meat product to be halal, the animal must be slaughtered only by a Muslim. In order to achieve economies of scale, the meat industry ends up operating large-scale abattoirs to produce all their meat. They end up using only Muslims at these abattoirs as it has simply become cheaper to produce all their meat together, instead of running separate abattoirs for halal and non-halal meat.
In such a scenario, many Hindu communities, especially some Dalits, who were traditionally butchers, miss out on employment opportunities in the sector. Considering the meat industry is worth several Billion dollars, this is a huge sector where only people from one religion are finding jobs because of halal policies.
Most businesses have today started serving only halal meat to save the cost of maintaining 2 supply chains, for halal and non-halal meat. People who may not be comfortable with halal meat, or people with religions where only jhatka meat is allowed, no longer have any choice in the matter. If they are ordering meat at a restaurant, they get halal only by default.
Furthermore, the halal economy is not just restricted to meat products now. Pharmaceutical products, personal care products, cosmetics, and even flour, all come with halal certification now. With its ever-growing scope, it is creating the grounds for restricting the job prospects in these sectors to people from only one religion. Further, this parallel system of certification runs without any checks and balances from the government.
This system also poses a systematic threat to several private companies that do not produce halal-certified products. This eventually allows the agencies producing halal-certified products to sell goods at higher prices, making their way to creating an alleged monopoly in the market.
More importantly, an organization like Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH), one of the oldest halal certifying trusts in India, is constantly in the news for their legal support to the accused in terror-related cases. Even in murder cases, like in the case of Kamlesh Tiwari, bomb blasts and terror funding cases, it extended legal support to the accused. A large part of these funds, come from the fees they charge for halal certification.
Likewise, the employment of funds sourced from Halal certification for love jihad, anti-national and unlawful activities is already apparent from the Balrampur conversion racket case which has also been emphasised by CM Yogi.
