New Delhi: Assam’s cabinet decided to ban the consumption of beef in hotels, restaurants and public places as well as at public functions, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Wednesday (December 4).
As it stands now, the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021 prohibits slaughtering cows, restricts the slaughter of certain other cattle and prohibits the sale of beef – the flesh of cattle whose slaughter is prohibited – and beef products in areas “predominantly inhabited” by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs or “other non-beef-eating communities” as well as within a five-kilometre radius of temples and satras, which are Vaishnavite monasteries.
Sarma, who was in New Delhi on Wednesday, described the 2021 Act as successful and that the state cabinet had decided that “henceforth, beef will not be served in any restaurant or hotel, as well as at a public function or in a public place”.
He also said the “consumption” of beef in the aforementioned places would be prohibited.
“Today we took one step forward what we started three years ago,” Sarma said at a press conference following the cabinet meeting.
Over the weekend, Sarma responded to allegations that the BJP distributed beef for electoral gains in the state’s Muslim-majority Samaguri assembly seat by saying he would consider banning beef in the state if Congress MP Rakibul Hussain and Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah agreed to it, The Hindu reported.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
