NEW DELHI ,7 March 2026 : At the middle of the Gadkari family’s sprawling agro-business empire is Rembal Agro, a beef company that has quietly risen to international prominence.
Rehan Ahmed Qureshi, a Nagpur resident who managed operations on the ground for Rembal, told The Caravan’s former staff writer, Kaushal Shroff, that he entered the business because he believed Gadkari’s ownership would offer a measure of safety.
In March 2022, one of the beef exporter’s trucks was seized by the Maharashtra police in Lonavala. The case left a large hole in Rehan’s pocket and described going to the Gadkari household three or four times, to meet the minister’s son, Nikhil Gadkari. Each time, Nikhil gave him empty assurances. Rehan was cut loose, and disappointed.
And here lies the issue. Nothing the Gadkaris are doing is patently illegal, apart from perhaps false advertising. But, while the companies’ owners derive steep profits from selling beef, which contributes the single largest portion of Rembal’s revenue, the histrionic cow-protection politics the Bharatiya Janata Party unleashed has ended up criminalising Muslim workers of their own enterprises.
Picture credit social media
