BENGALURU: The Karnataka government, under flak for constituting caste-based boards and corporations, and facing pressure to include more communities for reservation, seems to be in no hurry to implement the Anti-Cow Slaughter Bill. Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chavan said it will not happen in the winter session in December.
In 2008, when BS Yediyurappa was Chief Minister, the Anti-Cow Slaughter Bill was passed in the House and sent to then President Pratibha Patil, who sent it back, seeking clarifications. The Bill was withdrawn in 2014, during Chief Minister Siddaramiah’s tenure.
The BJP manifesto for the 2018 assembly elections had said the party would reintroduce the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation Bill, 2012. The recent Core Committee meeting of the BJP in Mangaluru had also recommended bringing the law back.
Since July 2019, when Yediyurappa took charge, the government has appeared keen to implement the law. This time too, BJP leaders are showing interest in the bill, and Chavan had said during his recent visit to Vijayapura that it would be implemented.
On Thursday, Chavan told TNIE that the bill will not be taken up at the upcoming session, and may or may not be raised at the Budget session. “We are studying the Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh model. We need time, but will bring it in sooner or later,’’ he said. Once the law is implemented, the sale and slaughter of cows will be banned, besides transportation of cows to other states.
Sources in the BJP said, on condition of anonymity, that the government was already facing a number of issues, including the announcement over the Maratha Development Authority. “Bringing in the bill on cow slaughter will unnecessarily create a ruckus in the House,’’ sources said.