Centre's Notification on Cattle Sale Reeks of RSS' Agenda: Kerala Minister

Thiruvananthapuram: Hours after the Environment Ministry sought to ban the sale of cattle from marketplaces for the purpose of culling, Kerala Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar came down heavily on the Centre, calling the order "unconstitutional".

Sunil Kumar accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of "pushing its agenda through this decision, aimed at dividing people before the next elections".

Talking to CNN-News18, the minister said the notification was an infringement of Centre on state jurisdiction, plainly denying to follow it. "We will go through this order and seek legal advice from the law department," Kumar said, adding that nobody can ban beef in the state.

Calling the central government's decision "dangerous", Kumar also alleged that the "Sangh Pariwar was behind the decision, which will have an adverse effect on the nation".

The minister also asserted that the decision will not draw support from the farmers and will lead to the loss of livelihood, too. "How can a central government ask the state government not to do cattle trade," he questioned.

Kumar said that Kerala was one state without any difference between the Hindu and the Muslim communities and both of them consumed beef and meat on a regular basis. "It is the right of the person to decide what food he wants to eat, and not a decision of the government."

"The RSS says that they will open centres to take care of cattle, but how will they do it?" Kumar said, adding that hundreds of people were still lying on the roads and the government failed to help them.

A gazette notification, titled Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change states that no one can bring cattle to an animal market unless he or she has furnished a written declaration that the cattle will not be sold for the purpose of slaughter.

Further, upon sale of cattle, the animal market committee will take an “undertaking” that the animals are for agricultural purposes and not for slaughter.