Kerala’s CPI (M)-led ruling lDF and Congress-headed Opposition UDF on Thursday joined hands to beef up protest by passing a resolution in the State Assembly against the Central notification banning sale and purchase of cattle at the livestock markets in the country. Demanding withdrawal of the notification, they termed the Central move as “fascist”.
In an offensive gesture, many MlAs had a sumptuous breakfast, comprising ‘beef fry’, at the Kerala Assembly canteen before the one-day special session. Demand for ‘beef fry’ was reportedly much higher than normal day.
However, Assembly sources said, “Beef was served by the two units of the Indian Coffee House eatery on the Assembly premises and in the staff canteen. It is a regular item in the menu and there was no unusual increase in volume either.”
Both ruling and Opposition parties described the Central notification issued last month as an intrusion into States’ rights and powers and an infringement on the rights of the people for choice of their food habits. Kerala thus became the first State in the country to hold a Special Session of the Assembly to oppose the Central notification.
Members from both the ruling and main Opposition sides said that the ban on sale of cattle at animal markets for slaughter was communal, anti-working class and anti-farmer and that the notification should be withdrawn. However, the House could not pass the resolution unanimously as the lone BJP member, O Rajagopal, dissented.
legislators from the UDF and the lDF alleged that the Central move was an attempt to corporatise meat trade which presently was an additional source of income for small and medium farmers. Those who spoke from the Opposition’s side said the Assembly should even consider formulation of new law if necessary to defeat the Central move.
Moving the resolution in the House, Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the notification was part of the Sangh Pariwar’s “secret” agenda. “The Centre has brought out the rules as part of implementing the Sangh Pariwar’s secret political agenda of banning cow slaughter,” he said.
Stating that the Central notification had been issued in violation of the Constitution, Pinarayi said that the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government had failed in fulfilling all its promises to the people and it was now raking up issues like cattle slaughter in order to divide the people through communal polarization for making political mileage.
The Chief Minister pointed out that implementation of the new Central rules would have serious consequences on various sectors like agriculture, dairy, leather industry and meat trade and export. Terming the notification as absurd, he said it was impractical in Kerala “where 95 percent of the people are non-vegetarian.”
He also alleged that the new rules would have serious impact on the health of the people and lead to rise in the prices of other meat, vegetables etc.
Stating that over 2.5 lakh tons of meat worth more than 6,500 crore was being sold in Kerala, the Chief Minister complained that a ban on cattle slaughter would affect the livelihoods of lakhs of meat traders and workers.
Participating in the discussion, former chief minister and nonagenarian Marxist VS Achuthanandan said, “New theories that would surprise even Charles Darwin are being brought up for the sake of Mother Cow and Father Bull. What Modi is telling us is that only the Adanis and Ambanis should run cattle markets and meat trade.”
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress, who described the notification as yet another “surgical strike” by the NDA regime like the “note ban”, said the new move signaled the arrival of “fascism” in India. “We can see several similarities between Adolf Hitler’s ideology and the moves of the Centre. I must say that Narendra Modi is modern-day Hitler,” he said.
Opposing the resolution, BJP member Rajagopal alleged that the coming together of the left and UDF over the cattle trade notification was the sign of a grand alliance being formed against the BJP in the national level. “Even political novices in Kerala know that the Assembly is being misused for making cheap political mileage,” he said.