The Hindu : BJP demands bill to ban cow slaughter

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 20, 2003

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BJP demands bill to ban cow slaughter

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI FEB. 19. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said it has asked the Vajpayee Government to bring a Bill to ban cow slaughter and denied the Congress charge on permitting beef exports.

The party also demanded that the Congress clarify whether its central leadership endorsed the view of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, who has sought protection for cows.

``We have asked the Government to bring a bill in the current session banning cow slaughter,'' the BJP spokesman, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said adding that the party deplored the `dual standards' on protection for cows.

He said contrary to allegations, there was a ban on the export of beef and all consignments of meat were subjected to pre-shipment inspections. Quoting an official release, he said, the inspections were conducted by the State's Directorate of Animal Husbandry and the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. ``If there is any attempt to export beef, the consignment is bound to be seized and the exporter himself is liable to be imprisoned'', Mr. Malhotra said.

Referring to the Ayodhya issue, the BJP spokesman charged that the Congress had changed its strategy. The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, demanded that the Government maintain the status quo on Ayodhya at the party's parliamentary party meeting and supported a demand for an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha. ``But when a date was being finalised for a discussion, they preferred February 26'', he said. ``The Congress knows the public mood and, keeping in mind the elections to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, the party has got the discussion postponed.''

Meanwhile, Government sources said the bill to ban cow slaughter was unlikely to be introduced in the first half of the Budget session. The proposed Bill would have to be cleared by the Union Cabinet and then listed for introduction in Parliament.

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