New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday reprimanded Karnataka animal husbandry and veterinary sciences minister K Venkatesh over his recent statement that cow slaughter was okay.
"He has been asked to focus on dairy farmers, ensuring that right milk price be given and not to decide on policy that does not come under his purview,” AICC in charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala said. The stern remark was both a warning to the minister concerned and an attempt to damage control as the BJP has been citing the controversial statement to target the Congress government headed by chief minister K Siddaramaiah.
The Congress government is barely weeks old and is trying to consolidate its position by implementing the five key pre-poll promises it had made to the voters of the southern state. “We are committed to our promises. The five guarantees are in the process of being implemented. Some of them have already started and registrations for some are being held,” said Surjewala.
The five guarantees including free power, free bus ride for women, women’s allowance, unemployment allowance and free rice were the centrepiece of the Congress campaign in Karnataka and played a key role behind the resounding 135/224 seats.
However, the recent statement of the animal husbandry minister K Venkatesh that "If one can slaughter buffaloes and bulls, what is wrong with slaughtering cows”, has put the state government on the backfoot and has given the BJP a handle to target the ruling party as the prominent religious heads have also slammed the remark.
A similar mention of a proposed ban on entities like PFI and Bajrang Dal, if they stoked communal fire, in the Congress manifesto had given a chance to the BJP to target the grand old party during the poll campaign. The Bajrang Dal issue did not click with the voters despite the best attempts by the BJP, saving the day for the Congress managers, who later admitted that the mention in the poll manifesto could have been avoided.
The animal husbandry minister’s controversial remarks have come at a time when the Siddaramaiah government is considering implementation of the strict Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which was passed in the Assembly in 2021 by the then ruling BJP.
The Congress as the main opposition had staged a walk out in the state assembly when the bill was passed. Now, when the grand old party is in power, it wants to make the law stricter with heavy penalties and jail terms as punishment. The legislation seeks a total ban on the slaughter of cows in the state and stringent punishment to those who indulge in smuggling, illegal transportation, atrocities on cows and slaughtering them.
Slaughtering of cattle would lead to imprisonment of up to 3-7 years, along with a penalty ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakhs. Subsequent offenders would be jailed for 7 years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakhs would be imposed. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said the cabinet will discuss the bill, indicating a review is on.
Read: Bommai decries Karnataka Animal Husbandry Minister's statement on cow slaughter
