Cow politics hots up, CMs say Centre dictating terms

BEEF Mamata cites federal spirit, Cong suspends slaughterers, Yogi seeks liberal condemnation

NEW DELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Beef stirred the political pot on Monday, after Congress activists in Kerala killed a cow in a public square to defy the central government’s new curbs on the sale and purchase of the animal.

The protests were staged after the Union environment ministry notified last week that no cattle can be sold or bought in animal markets for slaughter.

The decision brought the Opposition and the ruling BJP into conflict.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the CPM, which rules Kerala, spoke in a rare voice of unity between the two arch rivals against the Narendra Modi government.

“We won’t accept the Centre’s decision… it is unconstitutional,” Banerjee said, dubbing the ban as an attempt to “encroach into state power”.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan urged his counterparts to raise their voice against the restrictions on cattle trade, saying the Centre’s “anti-federal, anti-democratic and anti-secular move” is an attempt to usurp power from the state governments. In a letter to the chief ministers, he said the ban would affect the livelihood of millions of people, especially those in the farming sector.

Vijayan said he didn’t need a “lesson in food habits from New Delhi or Nagpur”, referring to the RSS headquarters.

It is a deliberate attempt to encroach on the state’s powers. It is undemocratic, unconstitutional and unethical MAMATA BANERJEE, Bengal CM There is a lot of talk about respecting each others’ feelings... in the name of secularism. Why are they silent on Kerala? YOGI ADITYANATH, UP CM