With several States up in arms against the ban on sale of cattle for slaughter in markets, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday the Centre is looking into issues raised by those opposed to the ban. The ban has firmly pitched States like West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka against the Centre. While a defiant West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee advised the people to defy the cattle laws, her Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan has also rebuffed the ban saying the State Government will not come in the way of the people to have food of their choice.
Opposing the ban, Karnataka law Minister TB Jayachandra said that the Centre’s ban was “anti-Constitution” and “an attempt to encroach upon powers of the States.”
Meanwhile, indicating that the Centre may be open to rethink the issue, Naidu said the Centre is examining representations given by States and some other organisations.
He said the ban was notified by the Union Government against the backdrop of some observations made by the Supreme Court and a Parliamentary Committee on preventing cruelty to animals and breaking the nexus in animal markets, including smuggling.
“However, subsequently, some issues were raised by a few State Governments and other trade organisations. These issues are being examined by the Government,” Naidu said.
The Environment Ministry, which had notified the rules last week, has received 13 representations on them.
In Kolkata, continuing her tirade against the Narendra Modi Government’s cattle rules Mamata asked the people of her State to stop bothering about the central laws and “eat whatever you want as our Government has not enforced any draconian law regulating the people’s food habits.”
Mamata, who was addressing her Ministers, MlAs and officials in an administrative meeting at Barrackpore, said she would not mind who consumed what till a person acted within legal limits and did not harass others.
“I instruct the police to take strong action against those who indulge in provoking communal tension in Bengal in the name of new cattle rules which is any way not a State Act.”
She told the police to thrash both the sides if that try to create tension and disturb peace and tranquility of Bengal. “A central rule may have come in place but this has no implication in our State as we have not framed any such act like that,” she said.
Mamata’s arch enemies the Congress and the left parties also stood by her on the issue of cattle laws. State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said, “The new laws will ruin the poor men by hitting hard an industry that is thousands of years old. The cattle laws show how the Central Government is giving protection to the rich businessmen and demolishing lakhs of poor people engaged in an industry.”
Wondering as to how the new rules would save the cow and other animals CPI(M)’s Mohammad Salim said, “The new laws would only make it impossible to sell older cattle and hence their owners will be forced to leave them on the roads to die consuming plastic as has been happening. The Government is trying to give a more cruel death to these animals in the name of new laws, apart from hitting the labour and meat industry hard.”
However BJP State president Dilip Ghosh said the Centre had taken a decision keeping in view various social aspects, adding things would fall in place and the so-called secular parties that were playing politics over the issue would soon learn a lesson.
In Kerala, Vijayan said that “There is no need for Keralites to learn food habits from anybody in New Delhi or Nagpur. “The Kerala Government may bring its own law to counter the Central ban on sale of cattle for slaughter.