Majoritarianism taken to the extreme

Assam’s new cattle protection law is more draconian than the 1950 law which it replaces and is discriminatory and divisive like its proposed population control legislation. While the existing law was intended to protect animals that were needed for farming, the new law uses cattle protection as an excuse to increase polarisation in a state which has deep communal fault lines. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had clearly told Muslims that they had to reduce their population, and he has left no one in doubt about who the cattle protection law is directed at. He has also said that the provisions of the law and the rules to be framed under it will ensure that people will be barred from eating beef in most of Assam, especially in urban centres. It is a majoritarian and authoritarian measure that denies people the right to eat what they want, along with other rights.

A key provision of the bill, which is not found in the cattle protection laws of other states, is the geographical demarcation for its operation. It bans the sale and purchase of beef in areas “predominantly inhabited by Hindu, Jain, Sikh and other non-beef-eating communities”, and “within a radius of 5 km” of any temple or sattra. This can, in effect, cover the entire state, which abounds in temples and other shrines. A temple can be built to bar beef anywhere. Barring people from eating a particular food just because they live in a particular area is taking the majoritarian will to the extreme. While the existing law does not have a sweeping ban on slaughter of all cattle, the proposed law makes no distinction among different cattle types and applies to all, including bulls and buffaloes. It disallows slaughter of cattle and their trade and transportation without approvals and licences and empowers officials to inspect any premises or vehicles.

Beef is a cheap source of protein for many communities, especially in the lower strata of society, and is an important part of the food of most people in all North-Eastern states like Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh. The bill will hit the availability of beef in these neighbouring states. It is wrong to deny a food item to some because some others do not want that food. The government cannot also claim that most Hindus shun beef. It also cannot presume that those who shun it want others not to eat it. To frame such a law amounts to imposing a religious idea of uncertain value on the entire society. The sentiment is not religious but political, and the aim is to trouble the minorities, especially the Muslims, and hit them where it hurts.