The Centre’s new rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that bans the sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets, has sparked outrage amongst political parties in Tamil Nadu. While non-BJP parties in the Opposition have hit out at the Centre, the ruling AIADMK has chosen to remain silent.
The new rules by the Centre called the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2016, have been formulated under the PCA Act of 1960. While the government hasn’t technically banned cattle slaughter across the country, what they have done is made the slaughter of bulls, bullocks, cows, buffaloes etc extremely difficult. The backlash against the Centre's latest attempt to 'violate the constitution', began with a sharp retort from DMK Working President MK Stalin.
“While cattle is on the State list, the law to prevent cruelty to animals is on the concurrent list. Be it jallikattu or the ban on selling animals for slaughter, the Centre has deliberately encroached upon the rights of the state government. This is against federalism and clearly shows that the BJP-led Central government is not interested in promoting the Centre-State relationship," he said, condemning the move.
He further took to social media to demand that the 'beef ban law' be repealed immediately.
Repeal the Beef Ban Law immediately that infringes on the right of every citizen to make their food choices. #beefban pic.twitter.com/52MouuCaY0
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) May 26, 2017
When TNM contacted the DMK, they claimed that this was the first reaction and that the party is yet to decide if they will protest or file a case in the court.
The state Congress has, meanwhile, questioned how the Prime Minister or BJP chief Amit Shah can decide what a person eats. "The aim of the BJP is to destroy the idea of India," says Congress spokesperson Jothimani. "This is all a part of their effort to propagate a Hindu Rashtra. They are against women, lower castes, farmers a nd labourers. They don't realise that South India is in particular liberal and progressive and does not want to be part of this conspiracy," she says.
The CPI(M), however, believe that this is an effort by the NDA Government, to hide their alleged failures over the last three years in power.
"Job opportunities in the country are reducing, Aadhar card is being made compulsory even though they opposed it earlier and farmers are not given any attention. People are seething over these issues and in order to distract them, this ban has been brought about," says Kanakaraj, State Secretariat member of the CPI(M). "There is also another hidden agenda. The Centre hopes that this will reduce the cattle population and so they can give away large tracts of grazing land to the corporates," he alleges.
The Tamil Nadu BJP has welcomed the Centre's move and claimed that it is as per the people's wishes. The AIADMK faction led by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has, however, maintained a studied silence. The head of the state only recently visited the Prime Minister in the capital and even invited him to unveil a portrait of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.