The proprietor of an Indian restaurant in London, who just lately introduced plans to close store after 16 years, mentioned in a contemporary sequence of posts that the eatery was targetted over his refusal to serve halal meat.
Earlier this week, Harman Singh Kapoor introduced that Rangrez would shut, citing spiralling prices, repeated disturbances, alleged assaults by teams he recognized as Pakistanis, and what he described as insufficient assist from the Metropolitan Police as causes for the shutdown.
In a brand new video posted on Tuesday, Kapoor claimed that one of many essential causes behind the restaurant’s struggles was his refusal, “from day one,” to promote halal meat, alleging that the stance led to a wave of adverse and faux on-line opinions.
Halal – that means “permissible” in Arabic – refers to meals ready in line with Islamic dietary legal guidelines, and plenty of practising Muslims favor or require halal-certified meat as a part of their non secular observance.
Within the video, Kapoor and his spouse elaborated on their stance, repeatedly asserting that their refusal to promote halal meat had triggered backlash. “Whats up, immediately we got here in entrance of you to let you know one factor why we closed our restaurant Rangrez after 16 years. One of many essential causes was that from day one, we selected to not promote halal meat,” he mentioned.
He additionally alleged that not promoting halal meat in London resulted in dangerous opinions from Pakistanis and claimed that a number of zero-star opinions on social media have been posted by folks he recognized as such.
“I don’t care. I misplaced my enterprise. I selected to shut it. Why? As a result of my combat in opposition to this radicalisation is greater than my enterprise,” Kapoor mentioned within the video, including that he supported calls to ban halal meat within the UK. He additionally instantly addressed London Mayor Sadiq Khan through the video, which included repeated use of abusive language.
Within the caption accompanying the video, Kapoor wrote: “One cause Rangrez restaurant in London closed was that we took a stand in opposition to promoting halal merchandise, which led to a whole bunch of pretend opinions from Pakistanis, regardless that they weren’t my clients. That is Britain, and I ask for banning Halal merchandise instantly. Do you agree with me?”
In separate posts, he mentioned, “Proudly, I don’t promote halal,” and claimed that people angered by that stance have been posting pretend opinions. A number of the posts included derogatory remarks directed at sections of the neighborhood.
In one other tweet, he wrote: “Proudly we don’t promote Halal.”
Below UK regulation, there isn’t any requirement for eating places to serve halal meals; companies are free to find out their menus. On the similar time, halal meat is legally obtainable and extensively consumed by Britain’s Muslim inhabitants, which makes up a major minority in cities corresponding to London.
In his put up on February 23, Kapoor had additionally mentioned that he would now focus fully on activism.
Harman Singh Kapoor has beforehand mentioned that he and his household confronted threats after he posted a video criticising the Khalistan motion on social media. In 2023, he additionally claimed that his restaurant was attacked by alleged pro-Khalistan supporters days after the Indian Excessive Fee in London was vandalised, incidents he has cited as a part of the pressures main as much as the closure.
– Ends
