The Siddaramaiah led Indian National Congress (INC) party government in the state of Karnataka appears to have taken off with a series of bumps to begin with. Many cabinet ministers, even before their portfolios were announced officially started making pronouncements unbecoming of any responsible authority. Some, in a hurry to hit the headlines also stooped to make a mockery of themselves. K Venkatesh, Animal Husbandry Minister is the latest bright star in this regard.
cow slaughter
Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh hinted at withdrawal of the anti-cow slaughter law in his interaction with the media persons after taking over as a Minister. He also went on to add-“The present anti-cow slaughter legislation makes a provision for slaughtering buffaloes but not cows…But why cows shouldn’t be slaughtered? Many farmers are in trouble due to stipulations of this act. I myself have been rearing cows and have struggled to burry when a cow died”.
BJP protests Minister’s remarks: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders including Basavaraj Bommai, former Chief Minister were quick enough to rebut the claims made by the Animal Husbandry Minister. The main opposition party also spared no time in announcing a state wide protest against the move on Monday and Tuesday. It looked Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister was equally swift enough to foresee the ramifications. He tried to douse the emerging fire across the state by assuring-“Any decision on the subject will be preceded by a discussion in the cabinet”.
Anti-Cow Slaughter Act since 1964: Interestingly, the existence of an anti-cow slaughter law in the state goes back to 1964 while similar legislations also existed among many other states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh among others from the past 59 years. But for Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Kerala and Lakshadweep, by and large all states and Union Territories have an act prohibiting cow slaughter as per the provisions under Article 48 of the constitution.
Act undergoes changes: Although an anti-cow slaughter act is in existence in the state from 1964, the subsequent amended acts were more specific in terms of the types of cattle permitted to be slaughtered. According to the 1964 act slaughter of bulls, bullocks and buffaloes was permissible. However, the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020 passed by the BJP led government in the state enlarged the scope of ban. The amended act extended the existing ban on cow slaughter to include bulls, bullocks, oxen and calves.
In fact, the BJP led state government had been keen on introducing several changes to the 1964 Act ever since it assumed power in the state. It had moved two bills in 2010 and 2012 with the aim of amending the 1964 Act in vain. Thanks to a Congress government assuming office in 2013, both these bills were withdrawn. But, the present Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020 and approved by the BJP led government in February 2021 was empowered with many more restrictions and penalties. The existing act also made a provision banning slaughter of bulls, bullocks, oxen, and calves apart from the cows.
Ramalingareddy paradox exposed
R Ramalingareddy, Transport Minister in the Siddaramaiah led Congress government made a mockery of him while commenting on the remarks of his Animal Husbandry colleague. Ramalingareddy claimed-“I am against the slaughter of not just cow but, all the 84 lakh species of lives on earth as the creator hasn’t empowered anyone to slaughter any other life. Personally I am against slaughter of animals as every living being has a right to live”.
However, when he was quizzed as to whether he would put forth his view points in the cabinet, he preferred to shrink his responsibility by remarking-“I have only expressed my opinion on the subject with the scribes and will not express the same in the cabinet”. But what one doesn’t understand is, then why did he even take the trouble of opening up his mouth before the media?
Rizwan Irshad, Shivajinagar Congress MLA has claimed that the present anti cow slaughter act has been causing a lot of inconvenience to the farmers. So the government proposes to make suitable changes in this regard to benefit the farmers and not complete withdrawal of the act as apprehended in a section of the society.
Let them read what Gandhiji said: Many BJP leaders have taken strong exception on the utterances of K Venkatesh, Animal Husbandry Minister on the issue. Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and Pratap Simha, Mysuru BJP Lok Sabha MP have lambasted the Animal Husbandry Minister. Both of them have called upon the Congress leaders to go through the readings of Mahatma Gandhiji on cow slaughter before jumping into any conclusions.
