South Shillong MLA and BJP legislator Sanbor Shullai was positively gushing about Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam’s Chief Minister, in a letter that gently criticised his government’s recent decision to ban the consumption of beef in public.
In a letter to Sarma, Shullai said that the Assam CM has “always been a source of inspiration for our people”, just one example of the soft soap that the MLA laid on the Chief Minister.
The BJP struggles in Meghalaya in part because its Christian-majority population is wary of voting for an avowedly Hindu nationalist party. This was mentioned by Shullai, who said that the beef ban in Assam has given BJP opponents fodder in their attacks.
The decision by Assam has also come just before the holiday season, when beef might traditionally be seen in a lot of homes during Christmas feasts and such. Even before this move, cattle traders had found it extremely difficult to bring cows into Meghalaya through Assam because of the latter state’s laws (introduced by the Sarma government a few years ago) heavily restricting their transportation in order to prevent cow slaughter.
“About 60 percent of the beef requirements in [Meghalaya] is met through import from other states. So, on behalf of the people of Meghalaya, I would like to request your kind intervention in smooth flow of transportation of bovine animals to the state of Meghalaya for traders and vehicles having valid documents provided by the state authority,” Shullai said.
Meanwhile, the National People’s Party (NPP) continued with its outright criticism of the Assam government’s move.
Today it was the turn of Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma, who pointed to a silver lining for Meghalaya entrepreneurs, who, he said, could open restaurants serving beef along the border with Assam to lure in customers and boost the local economy. It sounds like a flippant remark on paper but could actually be Sangma’s attempt at a serious bit of advice.
More seriously, he said that India is a diverse country and its people should have broader mindsets and that some of Sarma’s comments had brought “down the standard of our nation.”
