Ranjan Sharma, a BJP worker from Ghaziabad says as the Yogi Adityanath government came to power in Uttar Pradesh and the crackdown on the illegal slaughterhouses and meat sellers began, a sense of quiet triumphalism prevailed in the offices and among the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The initial shock of a remarkable and unprecedented landslide victory had not yet subsided when, across districts of western UP there was a murmur doing the rounds: the Muslims will have it now. Ranjan Sharma, a BJP worker from Ghaziabad.

As the Yogi Adityanath cabinet was sworn in and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan of 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas' reverberated across lanes, streets, roads and highways it was clear that rioting or hooliganism will not be tolerated. To his credit, as the chief minister, Yogi Adityanath has passed instructions on those lines. While the BJP is panic-stricken and still strategizing about the road ahead and paths to be taken and/or forsaken, workers on the ground are simply wishing to see the Muslims suffer. And it is evident in the streets.

Political considerations notwithstanding, the workers are rooting for economic retribution, which entails dangerous consequences for the Muslims in the state. "These people have made money by selling cow and buffalo meat but we don’t want to let it go on." Even though cow slaughter has been banned in Uttar Pradesh for decades, and only buffalo is allowed to be slaughtered, procured and sold, most of which is exported, the call from among the party workers is for a total ban on meat products sold by Muslims.

In almost every BJP office in the districts of western Uttar Pradesh, dedicated teams have been constituted to keep track of every meat shop in the region and to file complaints against them on one account or the other. In most cases, it is the local leaders who solve the problems for them by calling in the police and complaining that the 'rules' were not being followed by the meat shop owners. Beef is not sold in any city market in the districts. It is still sold in the outskirts and among villagers, who are the primary purchasers since it is the cheapest meat.