Dear Arvind,

I am sure you have read the letter by Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, in which he appealed to all his counterparts to come together and oppose the “anti-federal, anti-democratic and anti-secular move” of the central government.

The move that he was referring to in his letter was, of course, the sweeping changes brought about by the Central government to the rules under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960—the most prominent one being that now cattle can’t be sold or bought for slaughter in cattle markets.

Mamata Banerjee minced no words either and called these new rules unconstitutional. Chief Minister of Tripura and Chief Minister of Meghalaya also registered their strong protest. Even allies and leaders within the BJP took a stand. But we did not hear anything from you.

Hundreds and thousands of farmers and dairy farmers in Delhi will be impacted by these new rules which prevent them from selling their cattle in cattle markets for the purpose of slaughter. Wouldn’t you fight for the farmers this time?

Agreed, slaughtering of cow was already prohibited in Delhi via Delhi Agricultural Cattle Preservation (DACP) Act, 1994. But the definition of “Cattle” according to the new rules under PCA Act includes buffaloes as well. This would have serious repercussions.

How would Delhi’s daily demand of more than 9,00,000 kg of meat be met with the enforcement of this ban? From where would the lone authorised abattoir in Ghazipur and several unauthorised abattoirs across Delhi source animals?

Sure, the power to run slaughter houses lie with the three municipalities of Delhi. But is that reason enough for you to display such indifference towards a burning issue like this?

In the matter of Rohith Vemula’s suicide, you even went to Hyderabad to show your solidarity and criticised Central government’s role before and after his suicide.

Demonetisation, EVM vulnerability, Sahara-Birla diaries etc., one names it and you have taken a stand on it. And it’s not that you have always opposed Modi or his government’s policies. For initiatives like Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Surgical Strike, GST bill etc., you have extended your support.

The bottom line is YOU TOOK A STAND.

With a background of such spectacular display of ‘spine’ your spinelessness on the issue of beef-ban is disappointing.

Having said that, I am not surprised because I have witnessed your evasiveness to take a stand on this issue with my own eyes in the Delhi High Court.

To give you a brief timeline:

The writ petition against the law which bans possession and consumption of beef in Delhi was filed in the Delhi High Court in May 2016. On the next hearing, in July, the Court issued a notice to your government to file it’s reply.

Your counsel didn’t even bother to appear at the next hearing in September. Nevertheless, the Court directed your government to file its counter affidavit within four weeks.

Nine months have passed since then and the counter affidavit is nowhere in sight. In a time period sufficient to construct a human baby out of a single cell, you haven’t been able to construct a reply declaring your stand on the beef ban in Delhi.

To act on the Kerala CM’s appeal is still a choice for you but to act on the direction of the High Court is not.

Isn’t your blatant refusal to reply makes you guilty of contempt of court? Are you engaging in one-upmanship with the Modi Government? Isn’t that in the domain of contempt of court as well?

You say, you are a man of words. So much so that it was one of your campaign slogans “Jo kaha so kiya” (what I promised, I delivered)

You criticised Narendra Modi, and rightly so, for his silence on the murder of Mohammad Akhlaq by a mob of right-wing fanatics on mere suspicion that he had beef in his fridge.

What justifies your silence on one of the biggest issues that’s plaguing India at the moment? What justifies your silence on these new rules banning cattle trade for slaughter and the writ petition challenging beef ban in Delhi?

Yours,
Gaurav Jain

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