Beef license for foreigners: Haryana Govt. justifies stand

The Haryana Government on Sunday clarified Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's remark that the state would offer special license for foreigners to consume beef, saying it would be possible only if any such provision was there in the act.

"There is a ban on liquor in Gujarat. But there is a special permission under which foreigners can consume alcohol. Likewise the Haryana Chief Minister was asked whether there would be any special permission under which foreigners could eat beef in the state," Jawahar Yadav, OSD to the Haryana Chief Minister, told ANI.

"To which he replied that people of Haryana do not eat beef and are against cow slaughter. But he said that if there was any provision in the act, only then it was possible otherwise it wasn't," he added.

He also said that according to his knowledge, there was no such provision in the act which allows for any special permission.

"The Chief Minister has said that it was an issue of the analysis of the act and if there is any such provision, then the decision on this regard would be made accordingly," he said.

Khattar had said the opposition to eating beef was not about anyone in particular, but reflected the feelings of the Haryanvi society which did not want to eat it. Foreign expats working in the state could get a special license for beef.

The Haryana Government had introduced a stringent law banning the sale and eating of beef as well as trafficking and slaughtering of cows, with rigorous imprisonment of three to 10 years for violations. President Pranab Mukherjee approved the law in November 2015.