HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Dec 4: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Wednesday that the Assam government has made the decision to outlaw the eating of beef in public areas, including hotels and restaurants.
The Chief Minister presided over a cabinet meeting today in the national capital where the decision was made.
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“We previously imposed a ban on the consumption of beef in an area within five kilometres of temples and other prayer places. However, today we have made the decision to broaden this limitation, and as of right now, eating meat in all public places in the state is strictly forbidden,” he said after the Cabinet meeting.
The chief minister said, “Serving beef in hotels, restaurants, and at any other community festivals in the state is also prohibited.”
He also took a jibe at the Congress party and said, “Some of the Congress leaders including the state president have spoken about banning beef consumption in the state. We already had a strict law regarding this; however, the matter was thoroughly discussed in today’s cabinet meeting and we have come up with a blanket ban on consuming beef in public places across the state.”
Earlier, Sarma stated that if state Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah wrote to him requesting it, he would be willing to outlaw beef in Assam.
Sarma said he was pleased that the opposition party brought up the claim that the BJP gave out beef in order to win the Muslim-majority Samaguri, which had been ruled by the Congress for five terms in a row.
He stated, “Samaguri spent 25 years under Congress rule and the greatest embarrassment in Congress’s history is that it lost a constituency like Samaguri by 27,000 votes. It is the Congress’ loss more than the BJP’s victory.”
Following the debacle of a Congress candidate in Samaguri, Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain alleged that the ruling party could win this constituency by distributing beef to the public.
Hussain has been representing Samaguri in the assembly since 2001 and he vacated this seat after winning Lok Sabha polls this year. The Congress gave ticket to his son Tanzil Hussain in Samaguri in the recently concluded by-election.
