BSF should put an end to smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh: Rajnath Singh

Angrail (West Bengal), April 1: Days after advocating a nationwide ban on cow slaughter, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today asked BSF jawans deployed along the Indo-Bangla border to put a complete halt to smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh so that people there give up eating beef.

"I am told prices of beef in Bangladesh have gone up by 30 per cent recently due to heightened vigil by BSF against cattle smuggling.

"You further intensify your vigil so that the cattle smuggling stops completely and prices of beef in Bangladesh escalates 70 to 80 per cent more so that people of Bangladesh give up eating beef," he said addressing jawans of BSF at this Border Out Post.

According to official statistics, around 17 lakh cattle were smuggled to Bangladesh from India in 2014. The Home Minister had said on Sunday that the NDA government will try its "level best" to bring in a countrywide ban on slaughter of cows by evolving a consensus.

"Cow slaughter cannot be accepted in this country. We will make all-out efforts to ban slaughter of cows and will also try hard to have a consensus for this purpose," he had said.

The Home Minister also stressed that India would like to further strengthen relations with Bangladesh. "We have very cordial relations with Bangladesh and we would like to further strengthen our relations with the neighbouring country," Singh said.

Referring to frequent attacks on BSF jawans by Bangladeshi smugglers, the Home Minister asked the troops deployed in this South Bengal frontier to do their best to foil such attacks and promised that he would stand by them in all circumstances.

"As a Chief Minister, I had taken many welfare initiatives for the UP Police and I would do the same for you too," he said.

PTI