States may move court against slaughter ban

Kerala, Bengal, Puducherry slam move; meat traders fear spike in cow vigilantism

The Opposition seems to have found a common plank in the ban on animal slaughter to rally against the central government, with some states even planning to move court against it.

Senior ministers in Kerala and West Bengal, ruled by traditional rivals the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress, respectively, have raised their voices in unison. Puducherry, which has a Congress government, has also slammed the Centre over the ban. Meat traders, too, have begun to lobby with various state governments to contest it, while political parties have expressed fears that the Centre’s move would only embolden cow vigilantes.

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