The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Majority of Indians revere cow but BJP needs to maintain diversity: Himanta
A LARGE majority of people in India respect the cow and are against its slaughter but the BJP is committed to maintaining the cultural diversity of the country, said party leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam’s education and health minister.
Speaking to a group of journalists on the sidelines of the two-day BJP national executive meeting in Bhubaneswar, Sarma said a vast majority of people in the Northeast, too, revere the cow as holy. “But when it comes to the Northeast, where a large population exists that eat beef, the BJP’S commitment is to maintain the cultural diversity of India,” Sarma said.
Sarma stressed that developmental issues should take centre-stage and the BJP, which he joined ahead of the Assam elections, wants to focus on the development agenda in the Northeast. “In this country there may be many policies that may be fit for one place and not fit for another place. But I think the party needs to respect the cultural diversity of the country and that is why the anti-cow slaughter bill or a ban on cow slaughter is not as central as reducing regional disparities in the Northeast,” said Sarma, who is credited as being the key architect of the BJP’S electoral successes in the Northeast and now heads the North East Democratic Alliance of noncongress parties.
Referring to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s call for a ban on cow slaughter across the country, Sarma said the sarsanghchalak’s demand was in line with what Mahatma Gandhi had said and what is in the Directive Principle of the Constitution.
“I believe that Bhagwatji and the Sangh are very much aware of the diversity of the country. I think when they ask for a ban, they have asked for the mainland, I don’t think they are asking for it in Jammu and Kashmir or in the Northeast,” Sarma said. “The Sangh too appreciates the cultural diversity of the country. As an individual I feel that rampant cow slaughter should be stopped. Because this is what Gandhiji has also asked for... All along our freedom movement Gandhiji, the most secular person of our time, built that tempo. Why are people forcing us to go against Mahatma Gandhi?”
He said respect for cultural diversity, however, might stop the government from going for a bill against cow slaughter. “The only issue here is of cultural diversity in some parts of the country. Within the Northeast too there is diversity on this issue, for example in Assam there is a strong feeling that there should be a ban on cow slaughter but in neighbouring states there are people who eat beef. So in our country, it is diverse, and within the Northeast also there is diversity, so maybe to implement a ban all India may not be immediately possible,” he said.
Although a ban on cow slaughter has not only been a demand from the RSS but was also on the agenda of the BJP, many of its allies, especially in the Northeast, have objected to the idea. Sarma said controversies on cow slaughter have been highlighted out of proportion by some people.
Population policy
Sarma also spoke about the proposals in the new population policy for Assam. Highlighting the need for an effective population policy in the state, which faces illegal immigration from Bangladesh, Sarma said the draft policy has many incentives and disincentives. While it has many incentives in the education sector, it has proposed that those who have more than two children will not be eligible for government jobs and contesting local body elections. “You cannot go and preach on the need to have population control measures when you yourself are not following it," Sarma said.
The Assam government will suggest to the Centre that it should be a national policy. He said the state government wants to extend these restrictions to those who want to contest assembly and parliamentary elections from Assam. But these rules will be “humanised”, he explained: “If you have a set of twins after your first child, you will not come under the ambit of this policy etc.”
The policy also has provisions to bar a person who gets married below the statutory age from getting any government job . “But for SC/ST, we will give some relaxation as the state has not been able to provide educational facilities in the same way to these areas as others, so we will have to be actually careful about that,” he said.