LUCKNOW: Even as a thousand illegal slaughterhouses have been shut down by the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, beef (buffalo) kababs made by Tunday Kababi are selling like hot cakes.
In 2017, after the BJP came to power in UP, CM Yogi Adityanath imposed a ban on cow smuggling and illegal slaughterhouses. The ban had triggered a massive political controversy, with many restaurants complaining that their business would shut down.
Sitting in a corner at the Chowk area of Lucknow lies the famous Tunday Kababi’s original outlet. The New Indian team visited the area to assess whether restaurants have been affected by the ban.
Brightly lit narrow streets of old Lucknow, filled with the rich smell of Awadhi specialty of Tunday Kababs in the air, are buzzing with tourists and locals alike.
The shut down of around 1000 illegal slaughterhouses under the Yogi government seems to have no impact whatsoever.
Mannan, one of main employees of the Tunday Kababi restaurant said the business is doing very well and beef (buffalo) kababs remain their most popular item among customers.
The temporary loss in the business, after the ban, he said, was natural. “It was not a loss of one person but a collective loss of everyone in the industry. If things are shut down abruptly, it’ll definitely cause problems.”
He added, “The government does as they please, we can’t do anything about it. When Buffalo meat-based Galouti Kababs were not easy to make, we started using chicken-based meat for kebabs. But now it has been restarted, and everyone including rich and poor all eat it. It provides everyone a cheap meal at an affordable price.”
Incidentally, one of the tourists was thrilled to find the famous century-old Tunday Kabab in the city. After getting lost for almost 2 hours and reaching the correct destination finally, he was excited to sit down and eat the mouth-watering Galouti Kababs to his heart’s content.