Congress in a bind: To repeal, or not, cow slaughter ban in Karnataka
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has threatened to launch a statewide agitation after the newly formed Congress government hinted that it might withdraw the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act.
The previous BJP government had, in February 2021, amended the Act to include the entire bovine family and made its penal provisions more stringent.
The Congress government plans to amend the 1964 Act again and table the amendment bill in the Legislative Assembly after the state budget session, which will start on July 7. However, there is confusion over whether a bill to repeal the Act or amend it should be introduced in the House of the state legislature.
And it’s not going to be easy.
Speaking to The Federal, sources in the Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation said that the officials are discussing all the legal aspects of the Act, which is already operational in the state.
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The government will explore the possibility of repealing or amending the law in the winter session of the state Assembly in Belagavi, to commence in November this year. However, there are roadblocks in the way. For instance, the Congress government does not have a majority in the upper house, or the Legislative Council, of the Assembly. The government, therefore, may go for an ordinance. But again, Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, who is a BJP appointee, may not approve it.
In the present scenario, sources said, such a bill can be passed only if the ruling party has a majority in the upper house. That may happen in 2024 when elections for some posts are due. However, the Congress is firm in its decision to bring changes to the law as the party had made a promise during elections.
The law prohibiting cow slaughter has a chequered history in Karnataka. The legislation was enacted by the Congress in 1964 and there have since been several attempts to amend it. The law was first amended in 1975. After the BJP formed the government in 2008, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa tried to amend it as it was one of the poll planks of the BJP in the state. However, BSY could not get it passed in the Assembly. His successor DV Sadananda Gowda, who became chief minister after BSY resigned in the Lokayukta case in 2011, sent the amended bill to the then President Pratibha Patil. But she returned it asking the government to table it in the Assembly. In 2013, when the Congress formed the government, Siddaramaiah did not go for amending the Act.
When the BJP again came to power in 2019, after 13 Congress and three JD(S) MLAs witched loyalty to bring down the Congress–JD(S) coalition government, it tried to bring in the bill as it was one of the election planks. The Yediyurappa-led government went for an amendment and brought an ordinance after it failed to muster enough votes to pass the bill in the upper house. It became an Act in September 2022 only after JD(S) members supported the amendment in the Legislative Council.
The amended Act stipulated stringent punishment for violation of the law. Banning the slaughter of cows, calves, bulls, and buffaloes under 13 years of age, the amended law has provisions, among others, of imprisonment up to 3 to 7 years and a fine of Rs 50,000, which can go up to Rs.5 lakh, for killing a cow.
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However, the Congress protested in both houses of the Assembly and made it part of its poll promises to repeal the Act. The Muslims, who constitute about 13 percent of the state’s population, voted en masse the Congress against the “communal agenda of the BJP” in the elections. As a result, the Congress is under obligation to fulfill the promise it made, said the sources.
Now, a debate on the cow protection law has begun afresh in the state after Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh said that if buffaloes can be slaughtered, why not cows? Suggesting that the Congress government would discuss how the Act can be repealed, Venkatesh had asked, “If buffaloes can be slaughtered, why not cows?”
Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi has accused “the Congress of always opposing Hindu sentiments”. Joshi said that if the Congress government repeals the law, his party will fight.
However, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister of Karnataka HK Patil said that there was no proposal before the government to repeal the law. “It is not reasonable to comment or discuss such a proposal when it is not before the government,” Patil said on Wednesday (June 7) while speaking to the reporters in Bengaluru.
Looks like the Congress is in a bind, given the sensitivity of the issue, with the Lok Sabha elections round the corner.
gitation after the newly formed Congress government hinted that it might withdraw the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act.
