Kerala assembly passes resolution against centre's cattle trade law

The Kerala assembly on Thursday passed a resolution against the Centre's new cattle trade rules that bans the sale of cattle for slaughter. The resolution that was moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was passed after getting the nod of the entire house except lone BJP MLA O Rajagopal. CM Vijayan took to Twitter to claim that 'a resolution against Centre's unconstitutional usurpation of State rights' had been passed.

Members of the ruling Left Democratic Front and the Opposition United Democratic Front unanimously passed a motion. The lone BJP member of the house, however, maintained that it was nothing more than the misuse of the assembly. "The convening of the special session was a misuse of the Assembly to target the Centre. It marked the launch of a larger alliance of parties comprising both fronts against the BJP and the Centre," he said.

Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan who moved the resolution against the new rules earlier in the day called it unconstitutional. During the special session of Kerala Assembly called to discuss the new law that bans the sale of cattle for slaughter, Vijayan said that the centre was infringing upon the rights of people. "This is unconstitutional and an infringement on rights. Centre has introduced this bill to impose Sangh's agenda. Farmers are being affected," he told the house.

"To take care of a cow that has stopped giving milk, a farmer has to spend Rs 40,000. A huge majority of our society are non-vegetarians and this new law is in no way acceptable to us," the Chief Minister said.

A special session of the Kerala Assembly had been called to discuss the union government's new notification banning the sale of cattle for slaughter. The assembly session comes a day after the Kerala High Court refused to ban the operation of the controversial notification.

The BJP was cornered in the assembly with all other parties like CPI, Congress, IUML speaking against the imposition of the new rules. The IUML claimed that the issue needed to be looked as an economic matter and not with a religious colour. The party held that beef was a staple diet of people of Kerala and depriving them of the same was unacceptable.

Beef fry breakfast ahead of special session

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan drove home a point when he organised beef fry breakfast ahead of the day-long special session on cattle trade norms. Several Kerala legislators headed to the Assembly canteen to get a serving of beef fry prepared as part of the breakfast menu ahead of the session. While beef fry is common on the assembly canteen menu, it is generally served after 11 AM. on Thursday however, the dish was piping hot and ready for breakfast. Canteen manager stated that 10 kgs of beef was brought anticipating demand during the day-long session.

OneIndia News