‘Nobody consumes pig milk’ Ranjeet Das reacts to Congress MLA’s demand

The minister said that neither Hindu nor Muslim drink pig milk whereas cow milk is consumed by everyone irrespective of their religion.

Time8 Desk
July 18, 2021
8:49 pm

Guwahati: After Congress MLA Abdul Khaleque demanded to ban sale of pork meat around mosques, Assam minister Ranjit Kumar Dass on Sunday countered that there is no comparison of cow and pig as “nobody consumes pig milk”.

The minister said that neither Hindu nor Muslim drink pig milk whereas cow milk is consumed by everyone irrespective of their religion.

“Cow milk is consumed by everyone, whether he is Hindu, a Muslim, or a Christian. Protection of cow is the need of hour and also the moral responsibility of each and every Indian,” stated Das.

The minister further added that, “This Cow Protection bill has been brought with the sole objective of making Assam self-reliant in the production of milk and milk products.”

Earlier, MP Abdul Khaleque said that the slaughter of pigs and sale of pork should be banned 500 meters around mosques as pork is forbidden in Islam.

He asserted that the provision of new Cattle Bill introduced by the government should strike balance in the state.

“The new Bill will strike a balance if the State government bans slaughter of pigs and sale of pork, 500 metres around mosques and religious other religious places of Islam,” he said.

Last week, the Assam government had tabled the Cattle Bill in the Assembly which envisages to slaughter of cows, ban sale of beef within 5 km radius of a temple in urban areas and transport of cattle.

In Assam, the cattle slaughtering is regulated by the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 1950. The existing act included bulls, bullocks, cows, calves, male and female buffaloes, and buffalo calves under the term ‘cattle’.

In the state, slaughter of all cattle is allowed after a ‘fit-for-slaughter’ certificate, to be given if cattle is over 14 years of age or has become permanently incapacitated for work or breeding due to injury, deformity or any incurable disease.

Reportedly, the law has been drafted aiming to end cattle smuggling from the state to neighbouring country of Bangladesh. Currently, cattle from many states of the country have been illegally transported via Assam and smuggled to the neighbouring country as well as to Meghalaya.