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| After 'endorsing' tax on Vaishno Devi pilgrimage, BJP trying to divert attention | | Beef, Jaziya Controversy | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Sept 17: After it failed to stop taxation on Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage by the State Government, the BJP is trying to divert the attention of millions of devotees by supporting the beef ban.
While the J&K High Court on September 16 issued a notice to the Government on a petition challenging sections of Ranbir Panel Code (RPC), the BJP announced it would fight the case tooth and nail. "If this is the case of religious sentiment, why not the same yardstick to fight the undue tax imposed on the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage," ask the people of Jammu.
But the BJP has its own self-satisfying stand. Its state spokesperson Balbir Ram Rattan said, "Our party has made it clear that it honours the High Court order. Any move to lift the ban will be opposed vigorously as the issue is directly related to the religious sentiments of the Hindu community." He said that opposition National Conference "should make its stand clear on the issue by telling people what it thinks of the (HC) order."
"The people of the state have a right to know whether NC opposes killing of bovines and beef sale, and honours the High Court order," Rattan added.
The fact remains that the ban on sale of beef in J&K was introduced by Maharaja Rabir Singh some 150 years ago. Since then it exits as the RPC that prescribes punishment for slaughtering or possession of bovine animals. There has rarely been a case where the law was ever violated in the Hindu dominated Jammu except for cases when the vested interests wanted to utilize it to incite communal clashes.
Though Jammu looks more concerned about the Vaishnu Devi issue, the BJP is following the beef ban. The Deputy Advocate General Parimoksh Seth is understood to have refused to withdraw his Public Interest Litigation that became the basis for High Court order seeking implementation of existing ban on sale of beef in J&K.
Highly placed sources said Seth has been instructed by a senior BJP minister against withdrawing the PIL. Sources said a senior government official had asked Seth to withdraw the petition. Seth, in turn, had assured that he would withdraw it, sources said.
But, sources said, Seth later retracted from his word, saying he has been "directed by a senior BJP minister" not to withdraw the petition.
But then, if the BJP is so concerned about the beef ban, why is the party silent over the tax on Mata Vaishnu Devi pilgrimage? Or is it that the party wants to give hype to the beef ban issue after it reneged on its promises made to the people of Jammu? |
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