Kerala asks PM to repeal new cattle sale rules

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the Centre has introduced stringent rules regarding cattle slaughter, it was business as usual for beef sellers across Kerala on Saturday, with people queuing up to buy one of their favourite food items.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking for repeal of the new rules, which he termed an “intrusion into the rights of states”. The opposition Congress also slammed the new rules, saying the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was behind the move as they were “trying to divide the society”.Vijayan, who has earlier condemned the beef ban in some states as nothing but a ploy to go forward with the RSS agenda, in his letter to the Prime Minister said: “I request you to kindly intervene in this matter and repeal the newly imposed restrictions, so that the lives and livelihoods of millions of our fellow countrymen can be protected, while safeguarding the fundamental principles of our constitution.”

He pointed out that in Kerala, vast majority of the population consumes meat, as is the case with all other South Indian and Northeast Indian states. “Even in states like Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal, non vegetarians out number vegetarians.”

Vijayan said the new rules should have been introduced in consultation with the states.

“The absence of efforts to take the states into confidence on such a drastic move with far reaching consequences is detrimental to our democracy.”

— IANS