Shillong,May 29: The recent decision of the Central government’s to ban cattle slaughter and introduce restrictions on the sale of cattle to prevent their killing has not gone well in Meghalaya. Meghalaya witnessed protests from different quarters, from Congress to BJP to local public, with everyone seems to be opposed to this notification of the Environment Ministry. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Meghalaya unit maintained that it should be the state subject according to the constitution. “Union Minister declaring ban on cow slaughter can be given at his capacity of Union Government and Cow slaughter is a state subject,” BJP state vice President David Kharsati said. Meanwhile, the state government was also quick to react and said “this displays the dictatorial attitude of the centre”. Taxation Minister Zenith Sangma and also Congress spokesperson said, “I strongly oppose and condemn this decision; it is of dictatorial nature”. Elaborating further, Sangma said, “It was known from before that once BJP comes to power at the centre this kind of things will happen, now this Government has started dictating the people of the state what to eat and what not to eat while the actual, it is the right of the citizen of the country to reside anywhere and accept any religion anywhere and to eat anything one desires which is the essence of secular fabric”. Local Public too expressed dissatisfaction over the Centre’s decision. It was in January 4, 2017, that there were deliberations on a possible law banning beef and cow slaughter ,and the Union Environment Ministry had asked the agriculture ministry to explore the option of enacting a national law to prohibit slaughtering of cow, selling of beef or beef products. However, the Supreme Court in January, this year, while hearing a PIL to ban nationwide cow slaughter declined to entertain it as it was a “state subject”. A gazette notification, titled Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change states (MoEFCC)that no one can bring cattle to an animal market unless he or she has furnished a written declaration that the cattle will not be sold for the purpose of slaughter.
