Leather industry in Uttar Pradesh facing major trouble after controversy over cow slaughter grows.
Highlights
- Over half the units, a third of the tanneries have shut
- Owners say profits have gone down by almost 70 per cent
- Fearing backlash, many Dalit workers have left
The controversy over cow slaughter had an unexpected spin-off. One that's not pleasant for Kanpur - one of the biggest leather manufacturing centres of Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections are due next year. Over the last few years, nearly half the units have shut, others have been making losses. And the Dalits, who form a chunk of the workforce, are heading back to their villages.
At a small tannery in Kanpur's Jajmau industrial area, 42-year-old Manoj Ram, a Dalit from Bihar's Vaishali, says many of his co-workers, who had worked with him for over 20 years, have left.
"I saw on television that Dalits were beaten up in Gujarat for skinning a dead cow. Tomorrow things may happen here too, I may be targeted. Anyway, there's too much propaganda happening over cow slaughter," he said.
Jajmau industrial area is one in nearly 400 tanneries at India's largest centre for buffalo-based leather. The owners here are mostly Muslim, the workers -- mostly Dalits from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and elsewhere.
At the tannery, a group of owners say over the last few years, business has gone down by as much as 70 per cent and the reason is not just crackdown on pollution in the Ganga. It is also the fear of backlash in the controversy and political propaganda over cow slaughter.
"I was in Europe to source orders and for the first time in 25 years, I did not get a single one. Maybe the people there watch news and feel we will not be able to deliver because of all that's happening," said Rafat Qayoom, an exporter.
At Old Kanpur's Pech Bagh, a street once famous for raw hide godowns, more than a third have shut in over the last two years. Around 100 remain, struggling against mechanised slaughterhouses and harassment of truck drivers who transport animals and hides.
"All in the name of cow protection," scoffed Mohammad Aslam, who deals in buffalo hides. "There is too much harassment on the roads. It has become very difficult to do this business," he said.