Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Wednesday banned the consumption of beef in public at any type of event or restaurant. This is an addition to the early rule that banned the sales of beef near ascertained religious places like temples. Therefore the meat can still be purchased from the shops and can be eaten within homes or private establishments in the state.
Beef consumption is a sensitive issue in India. Cows are revered by the Hindus and 80% of the population is Hindu. Many states are ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam is along in that list. Just they have smashed down on serious cow slaughtering in recent years.
Two-thirds of India’s 28 states are governed by the BJP. They have fully banned cattle slaughtering and beef consumption though in many areas buffalo meat consumption is addressed as legal.
Cow vigilante organizations have been accused of using violence to enforce the ban in several parts of India, frequently resulting in fatal attacks on Muslim cattle traders, meat vendors, and Dalits (previously untouchables), for whom beef is an inexpensive and essential source of protein.
In 2021, the sale and purchase of beef was outlawed in Assam in districts inhabited by Sikhs, Jains, and Hindus who don’t typically consume beef. The sale of beef relative to temples was likewise forbidden by the regulation.
According to Sarma, the current law will be amended to include the new prohibition on public drinking.
The ruling was made just days after the Congress, India’s main opposition party, accused Sarma of using beef to win a by-election in the Muslim-majority Samaguri constituency. The BJP refuted the accusation.
Rakibul Hussain, a Congress lawmaker, had said that the chief minister had “betrayed” the Hindu nationalist principles of his own party by “offering beef” to supporters.
Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday
“ that he was prepared to implement a total ban on beef in the state if that was what the Congress desired, sparking a political slugfest.”
On the other hand, many political parties criticized the banning and addressed this decision as interference with the people’s right to eat what they want to eat.
Hafiz Rafiqul Islam, a member of the All India United Democratic Front said
“If they cannot ban beef in Goa or other northeastern states, why in Assam?”
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