Akhilesh dares Modi to ban beef export

Both sides on a verbal duel after lynching of a man in Dadri for alleged beef consumption

An exchange of words took place between the Samajwadi Party-ruled government in Uttar Pradesh and the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Centre on Friday, after state Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav dared the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to ban beef export. Both sides have been on a verbal duel in the wake of the lynching of a man in the state’s Dadri town, after villagers accused his family of consuming beef.

“They want to rake up such issues. These forces talked about a ‘pink revolution’. We say today — you are in government now, so ban beef export. You should build support for banning their export,” Akhilesh Yadav said at a function in Lucknow.

Union commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Yadav should know that the export of beef (meat of cow, oxen and calf) is already prohibited. She said only boneless meat of buffalo (not beef), meat of goat and sheep are permitted to be exported, subject to provisions specified in gazette notifications on raw meat. She further clarified that the Centre’s foreign trade policy makes it binding on exporters to have a certificate from an authorised agency that the meat has been derived from buffaloes unfit for breeding. She reminded Yadav that preservation of cattle or enacting a law on cow slaughter does not fall under the purview of the Centre.

Earlier in the day, Yadav had also said that “our religion and our country” allow people to live the way they want and to respect their rights.

“Our Constitution is based on secularism. Our schemes are all based on this principle but some forces want to vitiate the atmosphere.”

Without naming the prime minister, he said: “The world where you are roaming, marketing and promoting your country, just think once what kind of food they eat from dawn to dusk. That’s why we should not interfere in each other’s way of life.”

In the Dadri case, an Iqlakh was beaten to death and his 22-year-old son Danish was critically injured by a 200-strong mob which entered their house on Monday night, following rumours that the family had consumed beef.

Cow slaughter is banned in the state. However, it is the country’s largest exporter of buffalo meat; two-thirds of the country’s export of this comes from here. From 2007-08 to 2011-12, the estimated number of buffaloes slaughtered in UP rose 161 per cent to 32.4 million, as the state is home to almost a fourth of India’s buffalo population.

The SP has accused the BJP of deliberately inciting violence ahead of the 2017 assembly polls, as part of efforts to polarise people. The BJP has termed it a failure of the state government to maintain law and order.