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MUMBAI: On the eve of Bakri Id, police in Mumbai
have banned cow slaughter in the city and warned
activists of Bajrang Dal against taking the law
into their hands by seizing sacrificial animals.
The order comes in the wake of tension in Bhiwandi
where a 1,000-strong mob protested against the
seizure of cattle being taken for slaughter
resulting in injury to 34 people, including 26
policemen.
Muslim leaders met with Chief Minister Sushilkumar
Shinde over the past week to appeal for peaceful
conduct of the festival tomorrow.
Director General of Police Subhash Malhotra and
police commissioners of Mumbai and Thane also
attended the meetings. Later, Maulana Kuddoos
Kashmiri told reporters that ''we promised them
that keeping in mind the sentiments of the other
community, there would be no cow slaughter on Id.
But Dal activists are still harassing us.''
Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Ahmad
Javed said: ''We will be deploying additional
forces for the festival. We are organising
meetings with various Muslim leaders to ensure
peace.'' Though buffaloes and bullock are
permitted to be slaughtered only in licensed
slaughter houses, smaller animals can be
sacrificed outside homes in closed enclosures. (ENS)
Senior Congress leaders said they still remember
how sants and sadhus had taken to the streets in
1967 to demand a ban on the killing of cows. They
said the party is, however, open to a consensus on
the issue if the BJP leadership wants to enact a
Central legislation banning cow slaughter.
As
it is, the BJP has been latching on to emotive
issues on the eve of elections, the Congress
leaders feel. Before the Gujarat elections, the
party had resorted to Pakistan-bashing, which it
continues to do. Now, it has also zeroed in on
Bangladesh, with its expected fallout in the
North-East where polls are due in Meghalaya,
Nagaland and Tripura at the end of this month.
Digvijay had explained to the party high command,
when he was here recently, that he had merely
''forwarded'' a memorandum he had received on the
issue to the PM. He had played down the import of
his move, which was seen as a strike against the
VHP and the Uma Bharati-led BJP that are trying to
corner him on issues such as cow slaughter and
conversions.
As
far as Digvijay's secular credentials go, they are
impeccable, say his supporters. But the CM's
recent stand on the ban on cow slaughter has given
his detractors the opportunity to dub him a ''soft
saffron''.
While the Congress leadership understands
Digvijay's political compulsions in the state,
which goes to polls in October, it is reportedly
of the view that the issue of cow slaughter has
wider ramifications and a comprehensive party line
needs to be evolved. The issue illustrates the
dilemma the Congress increasingly finds itself in
on the position it should take on Hindutva. There
is a raging debate in the party on how to define
secularism. Broadly, there are three schools of
thought in the party today. Most adhere to the
view that communalism in all its form should be
shunned, the line pursued by Digvijay Singh.
Then there is the view that the Congress should
not come across as a party only of the 15 pc
minority and that the minority community must
understand that their welfare lies in the goodwill
and support of the majority, a position akin to
Kerala CM A.K. Antony, who by no stretch of
imagination can be called a communalist. Manmohan
Singh is also believed to be of the same view.
The
third line is reportedly articulated by Mani
Shankar Aiyer that the Congress has forgotten both
Nehru and Gandhi and that while minority
communalism was bad, majority communalism leads to
spurious nationalism. |
