The Congress party in Nagaland has said that the Assam Cattle Preservation Bill introduced by the Assam government is a threat to the whole Northeast region.
The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has suggested the Assam legislators that caution should be taken before passing the bill.
A release issued by the president of NPCC, K Therie, stated that the bill should not be detrimental to the inherent trade and food habits of the Northeast stated.
“Cow trade in the Northeast extents to Bangladesh and Myanmar through Assam’s length and breadth since time immemorial for the hill states. Any restriction through the bill will be detrimental to the inherent trade and deprive people of their food habits,” the NPCC said.
Therie added that the greatest threat is of the law being misused to implicate people unnecessarily. “It is a threat to peaceful co-existence,” he said.
“The bill is an imitation of mainland BJP states which have passed cow protection bills,” the Congress leader adding: “We cannot simply change our culture to suit the mainland as we need to be tolerant with the surrounding environment.”
He said Assam being a sovereign state has the right to legislate its own laws. However, the bill should not forget that India is a Union of states and “we are economically interdependent”. He hoped that good sense will prevail in the house, the release said.
Arunachal Congress opposes Assam’s Cattle Preservation Bill
Senior Congress leader in Arunachal Pradesh, Padi Richo, on July 13 lashed out at the BJP government-led under chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam over the Cattle Preservation Bill, 2021, which envisages imposition of total ban on transport of cattle outside the state.
Richo alleged that it is an “anti-people” legislation. “The bill once enacted would go against many Northeast states where large number of people earn their livelihood by selling cattle. It would also hurt sentiment of those who consume cattle meat,” North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECC) general secretary Padi Richo claimed.
“The traders bring cattle from other parts of the country though Assam or its capital Guwahati (Assam) being the entry points of many Northeast states and such a ban would snatch away their livelihood” Richo said in a statement.
Such a bill goes against the indigenous people of the Northeast region, particularly of Arunachal Pradesh, the former Arunachal Pradesh minister alleged.
Earlier, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma had also said that his government will approach the Centre if the Assam bill will affect the state.
