Kerala House flays cattle sale ban

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Assembly has flayed the Central notification on the cattle trade and said it was unconstitutional and an infringement on the rights of the people.

A resolution passed at the special Assembly session on Thursday said cattle trade is a state subject and does not come under the Centre’s purview.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who moved the resolution against the notification issued on May 23, said, “The Centre has issued the notification to impose the Sangh Parivar agenda and it has affected the farmers.”  

About 15 lakh cattle were being brought to the state from other states every year. This movement has been affected by the ban. About 2.5 lakh tonnes of meat worth Rs 6,552 crore was being sold annually, Mr Vijayan said.

The resolution was passed without voting as only Mr Rajagopal of the BJP opposed it. This is for the first time that a state Assembly convened a special session to protest against the central notification.

Mr Rajagopal termed the special session as a misuse of the Assembly to target the Centre. “It is the launch of a Mahagatbandhan of parties comprising both fronts against the BJP and the centre,” he said. The session was convened to discuss a non-issue by creating confusion for getting cheap political gains, he added.

Though Kerala Congress (M) leader K.M. Mani did not oppose the resolution, he asked why the Assembly should discuss the issue which did not affect the state. It was under the consideration of the high court and need not be discussed, he said.

Former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who started the discussion on the motion, wanted the state government to make legislation against the notification.

He suggested the  setting  up of modern slaughter houses in the cooperative sector as the state has a strong cooperative movement.   Pooh-poohing  the notification as a national tragedy, he   alleged  that it  was to prepare the  ground for creating a monopoly for Adani and Ambani in cattle trade.

Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala  described the restriction as an infringement on the personal freedom of individuals to choose the food of their choice.

The notification was coated with  poison and part of the agenda to impose RSS-BJP agenda, he said.