The controversial “beef festival” in Left-ruled Kerala took a nasty turn in Kannur on Sunday evening when a group of Youth Congress leaders slaughtered a cow in public and distributed the cooked meat.
Several youth groups of the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and Congress-headed UDF opposition, organized controversial, 'beef festivals' to protest against the Centre’s recent decision to ban sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter.
Kerala is one of the few states where cow slaughter is not banned, animal lovers said “such brazen acts” glorify cruelty towards animals and demanded action against Youth Congress activists.
The BJP, which is trying to gain a toehold in the state and won its first seat in the last year’s assembly election, also criticised the slaughtering of the animal at a busy market in the heart of Kannur while the Congress asked its cadres to use restrain during protests.
BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan tweeted the video of the slaughter, saying it was the “peak of cruelty”.
Police registered a case against Youth Congress activists who slaughtered a cow in public and cooked its meat. They were booked under IPC Section 428 and section (ii) of the PCA Act 1960.
As protest mounted in the state, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Centre couldn’t draw up a menu and change the food habits of people. In Kerala at least 500,000 people are directly or indirectly involved in cattle trade, slaughterhouses and allied areas.
Cow slaughter and smuggling are banned in most parts of the country but there are no curbs on buffalo meat, which is eaten widely as a cheap source of protein.