West Bengal, Sept. 15 -- Meat trader Mushtaq has not earned a single penny in over three months since the Suvendu Adhikari-led West Bengal government issued a notice on cattle slaughter.

"It was halted because of the elections, but there is no news about when it would be renewed," he told Al Jazeera, looking back when times were easier.

Mushtaq's family has been in the meat trading business for years. "All six generations before me supplied beef, and all past governments had no problem," he said.

He sits in front of a slaughterhouse in Tangra, recently closed down following government orders. It was Bengal's last slaughter facility.

His friend, Mehmood Alam, owns a roadside eatery opposite the facility. "I don't think this government ...