Former BJP leaders hold beef fest Beef ban has affected no one in Northeast: Rijiju
Hundreds turned up at a beef festival organised by former BJP leaders of Meghalaya on Saturday evening in protest against the Centre’s notification banning cattle trade in animal markets for slaughter.
The festival held at Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills district, will be followed by others in nearby districts in coming weeks. “Nearly 500 people turned up. We expect many more to join us soon,” said Bernard N. Marak, BJP’s West Garo Hills district president till he resigned last week.
Four days after him, Bachu C. Marak, the North Garo Hills district president also quit BJP, which was followed by resignations of nearly 5,000 youth wing workers from the area.
On Saturday, participants in the festival had beef delicacies made in traditional style with steamed rice and downed their food with ‘bitchi’— a local drink.
Irked by the notification and refusal by the party’s leadership to allow a beef party to mark three years of Narendra Modi government, many more BJP workers in Garo Hills region are expected to quit in coming days.
“Our ‘bitchi-beef fest’ is a strong message to our leaders to not intrude into our areas and violate our local laws. Having beef is a freedom we enjoy and should be respected by others,” said Marak.
Unlike most parts of the country, consumption of beef is common in Christian dominant Meghalaya and the Centre’s notification hasn’t gone down well.
“I quit BJP as the party was trying to impose Hindutva ideology on us. We feel out of place in the party. Eating beef is part of our tradition and fest is our way of showing how intrinsic cow meat is to our culture,” he said.
The developments are seen by some as bad news for BJP ahead of next year’s assembly polls. Garo Hills region has 24 of the total assembly seats.
minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said the Centre’s notification banning sale of cows for slaughter at animal markets has affected no one in the Northeast.
He also accused the Congress and ‘pseudo-secular’ groups for creating unnecessary noise about a notification necessitated by a Supreme Court order.
“This is not an issue at all. No one in the Northeast is facing any problem. People are eating what they like. There have been no clash, no arrest,” Rijiju said here on Saturday. The Congress, he said, has been fanning a nonissue because it has nothing better to do. He referred to Meghalaya, where two BJP district unit leaders quit the party over “beef ban”, as a case in point.
RAHUL KARMAKAR