Court stays cattle trade rules, BJP dares Left

Madras high court on Tuesday ordered a four-week stay on the Centre’s decision to ban the sale of cows and buffaloes for slaughter. The court gave central and state governments four weeks to reply to an appeal that an individual has the basic right to choose his food.

A Madurai bench issued the interim order on the two pleas which said that the rules should be quashed as they were against the Constitution

Many states have criticised the ban as a blow to beef and leather exports that will leave thousands jobless and deprive millions of Christians, Muslims and poor Hindus of a cheap source of protein.

Elected officials of Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal have said they will not abide by the order and protest rallies have been held in these states. Several northeastern states have also refused to agree with the order.

Over the past three days, people in Kerala and Tamil Nadu have held “beef festivals” where they cooked beef and served it to public.

Kerala’s BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan on Tuesday dared the Left leadership to hold such events in New Delhi.

“I wish to ask Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat...Do you have the courage to organise beef fests publicly in front of AKG Bhavan in New Delhi? “he asked.

Meanwhile, Meghalaya MP and former union minister Vincent H Pala has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lift the ban in tribal and beef consuming states like Meghalaya. In a formal petition, Pala urged that formal views from all states should be taken into consideration to review the rules.