Sreeprakash, the BJP candidate in Malappuram Sreeprakash, the BJP candidate in Malappuram

Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) amended a bill reflecting stricter punishment for those found guilty of cow slaughter in Gujarat and initiated a crackdown on illegal slaughter houses in Uttar Pradesh, its candidate in a by-election in Kerala is traversing a different path. N Sreeprakash, the party candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha by-election in Malappuram, is promising voters that if elected, he will ensure the supply of good beef in the constituency.

“There will be efforts from my side to ensure good-quality beef at clean abattoirs (if elected),” Sreeprakash told reporters at a ‘Meet the Press’ function. He blamed the Congress for enforcing ban on cow slaughter when it was in power in many states in the past. He said it was only illegal to consume beef in states where a ban on cow slaughter is in place.

Kerala is among the few states in the country where there are no restrictions on the sale and consumption of cow meat.

The states in red have cow slaughter bans in place The states in red have cow slaughter bans in place

Sreeprakash’s frank admission comes a day after Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, a BJP leader, said that anyone found committing gau hatya (cow slaughter) will be hanged. The state banned cow slaughter in 2004.

While the BJP has pursued tough legislation and action on those committing cow slaughter in the northern and western states, it has been criticised of hypocrisy in states like Kerala and the northeast where consumption of beef is not illegal. “BJP’s hypocrisy is that in Uttar Pradesh Cow is mummy but in the Northeast its yummy,” AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi was quoted saying by news agency ANI.

There is no ban on cow slaughter in Arunachal Pradesh (BJP-ruled), Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland (BJP ally-ruled), Tripura and Sikkim. In Manipur, where the BJP came to power earlier this month, the Maharaja in 1939 had decreed prosecution for cow slaughter but beef is consumed widely.

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