With the battle for Bihar getting intense every day, the BJP declared on Monday that it would ban cow slaughter if it was voted to power.
“When we form a government, we will bring in a law to ban cow slaughter,” senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi said, taking advantage of RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s remarks — withdrawn later — that “even Hindus eat beef.”
“This [Assembly election] is a fight between those who eat beef and those who are against cow slaughter… Now, people must decide whether they want beef-eaters or those who want to ban it,” Mr. Modi said, not knowing that the slaughter of cow and calf is prohibited in the State under the Bihar Preservation and Improvement of Animals Act, 1955. The Act also bans exports of cows, calves, bulls and bullocks from the State and punishes violators with a jail term of six months or a fine of Rs. 1,000 or both.
Mr. Modi wondered “why [Congress president] Sonia Gandhi and [Chief Minister] Nitish Kumar have so far remained silent on the issue.” “On the one hand, the Centre has stopped cow slaughter and on the other, Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar and Sonia Gandhi are talking about eating beef,” he said.
After the lynching of a man at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Lalu Prasad kicked up a row by saying “even Hindus eat beef” and accused the BJP and its ideological mentor, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, of communalising the issue. But he withdrew his statement, saying: “The devil had come into his mouth which prompted him to say such things.”
But his remarks came in handy for BJP leaders. “Lalu Prasad can even eat beef for vote… he has insulted millions of Yaduvanshis [the Yadavs] who worship cows,” senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav said.
Nitish Kumar ne gaon-gaon me sharab ki bhatti khulwa di aur agar phir se mauka mila to gaumans ke liye buchadkhane bhi khulwa denge [Mr. Nitish Kumar opened wine shops in every corner of Bihar and if he gets another chance, he will open abattoirs for beef in every place],” Mr. Modi said.
