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Express News Service
GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP in Assam has signalled a clearer political agenda forward of Assembly elections, anticipated in April.
It got here out with a report card on “Gaumata” on Monday, days after passing a Bill within the Assembly to transform the over 700 state-run madrasas into common faculties.
“CM Shri @sarbanandsonwal’s tough stance against Cow Smuggling has led to sustained massive crackdown on the menace, ensuring protection of the livestock that has been revered for thousands of years. Here’s a look at some figures,” a tweet of the Assam CM’s Office, captioned as “Protecting the Gaumata”, reads.
The BJP let the voters take a peek on the report card that matches nicely with the social gathering’s core narrative. However, the timing of it and using the north Indian Hindutva lexicon has raised questions.
As per figures shared via the tweet, 20,061 cattle have been seized, 1,103 instances registered and 1,513 smugglers arrested since June 2016. The Sarbananda Sonowal authorities was put in in May that yr.
Opposition Congress was fast to react.
“We already have The Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 1950 (Assam Act 13 of 1951) for protection of cattle. So, we know how to protect our cattle,” Congress spokesperson Bobeeta Sarma stated.
She requested the BJP to learn the Act earlier than doing politics on “Gaumata”, a phrase, she stated, by no means utilized in Assam.
“Cow smuggling has been on the rise during BJP rule in Assam. Lafiqul Islam, young All Bodoland Minority Students’ Union leader, was known to have been a whistle-blower of a cow smuggling racket involving powerful people. He was killed and till now, the BJP government has neither taken any action against the murderers nor have they been able to book the masterminds of this huge racket. So, the question arises — who is encouraging cow smuggling or protecting cows?” Sarma requested.
The cow is an integral a part of Assam’s agrarian financial system. The first day of Rongali Bihu celebrated in April, is devoted to the bovine creature.
Assam shares a 262-km lengthy border with Bangladesh. Cattle smuggling thrives in Dhubri and South Salmara-Mankachar districts bordering Bangladesh. It is usually alleged {that a} part of the police and politicians is hand in glove with the smugglers. A cow smuggled into Bangladesh may fetch greater than double its value in India.
In October final yr, Sonowal had referred to as upon Assam’s indigenous communities and real Indians to face united towards “Mughal aggression”. His jibe was ostensibly directed on the minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), headed by Lok Sabha member Maulana Badruddin Ajmal. It was adopted by Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s powerful speak on “love jihad”.
“Love jihad today assumes mountainous proportions before Assamese women and girls. They are falling prey to people believing in Ajmal’s culture and civilisation. There have been several instances where such youths married Assamese girls by hiding their religious identity and the girls faced a situation such as Triple Talaq soon after,” Sarma had then stated.
In the 2016 polls, the BJP had tried to scare the voters into believing that if the social gathering was not voted to energy, Ajmal would turn into the state’s CM and that it could cease the unlawful inflow of “Bangladeshis”.
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