Meghalaya BJP legislator slams Assam beef ban

BJP MLA criticizes Assam beef ban, advocates for freedom of food choice, and calls for stringent drug checks in Meghalaya.

GUWAHATI:

A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Meghalaya has followed Kerala BJP vice-president Major Ravi in slamming the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government’s ban on the consumption of beef in hotels, restaurants, and public places.

Sanbor Shullai, an outspoken MLA who represents the BJP from the South Shillong constituency, said the Assam Cabinet’s decision to amend a cattle-related law to impose the beef ban was against the tenor of the Constitution of India that does not restrict the consumption of meat.

Also Read: Assam’s cow protection Bill bans sale of beef within 5km of temples

“People eat snakes, rats, and insects as they choose to in various countries. People in Meghalaya are free to eat whatever they like. One of my friends sent me dog meat and I had it with my wife,” he said at a consultation programme with the people of his constituency on Friday (December 6, 2024).

He said he has drafted a letter condemning the BJP-led Assam government’s decision to be sent to the party’s central leadership with a copy to the Assam Chief Minister.

On December 4, the Assam Cabinet approved the amendment of the Assam Cattle Preservation Act of 2021 to ban beef consumption in hotels, restaurants, and public places across the State. The Act earlier prohibited cattle slaughter and sale in areas where Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs are in the majority and within a 5-km radius of a temple or satra (Vaishnav monastery). In September, the Meghalaya government did not allow a chartered flight of the head of a right-wing organisation to land. The organisation had planned a rally against cow slaughter and beef in Shillong.