Giving indications of a possible campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party against beef consumption in the State, the party on Friday called for a hartal in the Nedumpana grama panchayat area of the district in protest against “the alleged unauthorised sale of beef at a stall within the panachayat market at Nallilla.”
The hartal took a curious turn when cadre of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) organised a beef festival at Nallila to counter the beef hartal. A good number of people participated in the beef festival by having their fill.
The BJP had earlier lodged a complaint with the panchayat authorities that the beef stall at the Nallila market was unauthorised as it had no permit from the panchayat authorities and hence should be closed down. The issue came up before the local police too.
But no stop order was issued by the panchayat. This irked the BJP which called for a dawn to dusk hartal in the panchayat. Meanwhile, the CPI(M)-DYFI combine alleged that the BJP was raking up the issue with clear-cut communal calculations.
