The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been in a state of denial. The simmering issue of beef supply into the state, aggravated in no small measure by the national atmosphere against the consumption of beef and rabid violence all allegedly in the name of the cow has left traders and hoteliers in Goa a worried lot. And while the issue is on the lips of almost every household, the government and its allies have maintained a stoic silence. Neither the chief minister, who in the past, vehemently maintained that he should not be asked about the beef issue in the state, nor the Catholic MLAs in the ruling party nor their allies have been able to offer any kind of remedy, much less put together their thoughts on the issue. The otherwise vocal leaders have all cowered down looking for a place to hide, even as some of them made protesting noises that this is a central government notification and that there is little they can do about it.
But in truth, they can. The government of southern states have made their intentions known by challenging the unilateral order of the central government. There is nothing stopping the Goa state government or individual political leaders in the ruling or opposition from raising their voices or speaking out. But the government has only betrayed its intentions. While on one hand it points to the fact that the rules do not prohibit the slaughter of animals on the other hand it does absolutely nothing to prevent lumpen gou rakshaks from running amok killing, lynching and extorting with impunity. While the state BJP was quick to condemn the killing of a calf in Kerala in protest against the government’s new rules, no one has uttered a word against the killing innumerable humans by gou rakshaks across the country.
Today, legitimate beef trade is a life threatening business.
What also betrays the BJP is the manner in which the central government has brought about these rules. The biggest irony is that the new rules imposing a ban on sale of cows and buffaloes in the open market for slaughter has been brought under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The Act was carefully chosen because the government couldn’t ban cattle slaughter altogether effectively because in that case it would have faced constitutional difficulties as the constitution has clearly put ‘prevention of cow slaughter’ under the directives of state policy -- clearly a state subject. That’s why it chose Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act on which both centre and state can make rules. Is it any wonder then why the ruling party has been reluctant to take questions on the issue?
