Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government would ban beef if State Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah sought it in writing.
He was reacting to allegations that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) offered beef to woo voters in central Assam’s Muslim-majority Samaguri Assembly constituency, wresting it from Congress in the November 13 byelection.
The BJP’s Diplu Ranjan Sarmah defeated Congress candidate Tanzil Hussain by 24,501 votes to win the seat. The latter is the son of Congress MP Rakibul Hussain, who won Samaguri five times from 2001 to 2021.
“Samaguri was with Congress for [almost] 25 years. The bypoll outcome was more of a defeat for Congress than a victory for the BJP,” Dr. Sarma told journalists after a party meeting in Guwahati on Saturday evening.
“But in defeat, Rakibul Hussain said it was wrong for the Congress and BJP to win elections by offering beef to voters. Few know Samaguri better than him. Did he mean the constituency could be won only by offering beef?” he asked.
The Chief Minister said if the MP thought beef should be banned, and neither the Congress nor the BJP should speak about beef, the government could consider acting on it.
“I will also seek the opinion of Bhupen Borah, and if he concurs with Rakibul Hussain, I will ban beef in Assam during the next Assembly session,” Dr. Sarma added.
Consumption of beef is not illegal in Assam but the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021 bans cattle slaughter and sale of beef in areas where Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs are in the majority, and within a five kilometre radius of their places of worship.
