Unease in Cong over invoking NSA for cow slaughter

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, a senior Congress leader voiced the unease in the minority community over the arrest of three Muslim youth in Madhya Pradesh under the stringent National Security Act for cow slaughter.

Addressing the National Convention of the AICC Minority Department, senior Congress leader and former Karnataka minister Roshan Baig expressed strong disapproval of the Madhya Pradesh government's action.

"What can we do if such things happen under a Congress rule," Baig said, making it clear that the party was completely against extremists of every form.

Baig pointed out that these were the same people who had voted for the Congress in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh a few months back.

"With what face we will go to Uttar Pradesh?" the senior leader said at a time when the Congress has decided to go it alone in the country's biggest state, where it has been relegated to the fringes of politics for nearly three decades.

Former Maharashtra Minister Arif Naseem Khan also expressed concern over the Madhya Pradesh government's action and demanded that the same stringent National Security Act be invoked against the perpetrators of violence against the minorities.

Madhya Pradesh Congress had justified the action saying it was necessary to maintain law and order. "The government is sensitive towards cow-related issues and such action will be taken in future, too," Madhya Pradesh Congress leader J P Dhanopia told the media in Bhopal.

Former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti hit out at both the BJP and the Congress for practicing Hindutva politics.

Mufti said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had withdrawn cases against the accused in the Muzzaffarnagar riot and the Madhya Pradesh government had slapped NSA against three people accused of cow slaughter.

"From UP to MP, political lines are getting blurred & its difficult to differentiate between Congress and BJP. Hindutva drives the realpolitik in modern India," Mufti said.

Between 2007 and 2016, the BJP government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan had invoked the NSA with respect to cow-slaughter charges against at least 22 persons.