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BJP’s Arunachal Pradesh chief Tapir Gao has raised a banner of revolt against the Centre's ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter.
Bijay Sankar Bora
THE North East region is on the boil. Days after senior BJP leader from Christian-dominated Meghalaya Bernard Rimpu Marak, district president of the Garo Hills, resigned in protest against the BJP’s “stand on beef consumption,” BJP’s state president in Arunachal Pradesh Tapir Gao announced that the Centre’s ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter could not be binding on the state where animals were sacrificed for religious rituals.
In Arunachal, it is usually the “mithun,” the semi-wild bovine found in high altitudes, which is sacrificed and consumed at religious functions. The “mithun” is consumed in parts of neighbouring Nagaland too where dog meat is most popular. Beef consumption is common in Meghalaya and Mizoram.
Former Assam CM and Congress leader Tarun Gogoi castigated the BJP government at the Centre for “interfering” with the eating habits of a section of the people, pointing out that in the North East beef had been consumed for ages, especially in the hill areas.
Gogoi argued that the Constitution gave exclusive powers to the States to enact laws regarding livestock and, hence, the BJP government’s move was “contrary to the country’s federal set-up.”
Chief Minister of Congress-ruled Meghalaya Dr Mukul Sangma has written to his counterpart in Left-ruled Tripura, Manik Sarkar, proposing a joint counter-move. “The state governments must assert collectively to dissuade the Union Government from such actions which will dilute the federal structure of our great nation,” Sangma wrote to Sarkar.
OBOR ramifications
The possible consequences of the Chinese initiative “One Belt, One Road (OBOR)” in the North East was discussed at a two-day conclave on “India’s One, Belt On Road Challenge: Views from North-East India”, at Gauhati University on JUne 2 and 3.
President of Centre for China Analysis and Strategy and former member of the National Security Advisory Board Jayadev Ranade said Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation being the seventh leg of OBOR, the North East was bound to see some effects. He said the BCIM was not in the interest of North East. He feared Chinese goods would flood local markets unless there were adequate infrastructure facilities for exporting goods from the North-East. He also pointed out to China’s territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh and it blocking Asian Development Bank aid for the state.
Femina Miss India
Kaheli Chophy, 24, from Zunheboto district of Nagaland will represent the state in the Femina Miss India contest in Mumbai on June 25. She will be pitted against 29 contestants. Chophy, a post-graduate in political science from St Peter’s College, Shillong, is the second woman to represent Nagaland in the coveted beauty pageant after Akuonuo Khezhie (in 2007).
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/na...-on-the-boil-over-cattle-sale-ban/417622.html