Malegaon cow slaughter rocks House

The BJP-led Opposition on Tuesday forced as many as six adjournments in Maharashtra Assembly over the contentious issue of cow slaughter at Malegaon, prompting the Chair to adjourn the House for the entire day without transacting much business.

On a day when the communally-sensitive Malegaon town observed a total bandh in protest of the slaughter of eight cows on the auspicious Ashadi Ekadashi day on Monday, the BJP-Sena alliance members turned the heat on the Congress-led DF Government for its failure to book culprits behind the “inhuman” act.

Angered by the “lack of sensitivity and alacrity” on the part of the Ashok Chavan dispensation in dealing with the situation arising out of the cow slaughter, members of the combine disrupted proceedings after Question Hour.

With no satisfactory response from the State Government, they not only forced the Chair to adjourn the House for the entire day, after six adjournments, but they also threatened not to allow any transaction of business till culprits were arrested.  

Raising the issue immediately after the Assembly met for the day, Shiv Sena’s legislator from Malegaon Dada Bhuse said cow carcasses were found in different parts of the powerloom town and on its outskirts on Monday night. Upset by the development, the residents of Malegaon had observed a bandh as a mark of protest against the incident.

After State Home Minister RR Patil assured the House that he would make a statement on the issue after the Question Hour, the Opposition let the Question Hour continue.

Subsequently, Patil told the House that eight cow carcasses were recovered from three different places at Malegaon. He said the police had formed two teams to trace culprits behind the incident, while a report on the post-mortem was awaited.

Dissatisfied by Patil’s statement, the Opposition came down heavily on the Government for lack of action.

Dubbing the slaughter of cows as an “inhuman” and a “deliberate” act  indulged in by vested interests to “hurt” Hindu sentiments on the auspicious occasion of Ashadi Ekadashi, Leader of the Opposition Eknath Khadse said, “The cow carcasses were found in a decomposed state. It looks as if the cows had been slaughtered at least two days ago and thrown on the Malegaon streets deliberately. This is nothing but a conspiracy hatched to hurt the Hindu sentiments”.

Khadse told the House that a local woman BJP office-bearer fainted on seeing the carcasses and later died. “One can easily imagine how horrific a sight it must have been,” he said.

Shiv Sena’s group leader Subhash Desai pilloried both the local police and State Government for their religious bias. “Had members of the other community been hurt by any such incident, the police and Government would have swung into action long ago,” Desai said.

Bhuse said despite the fact that two of the eight cow carcasses were found near a police chowki, the police did not take cognisance of the development. “It was only after a milk vendor reported the matter formally to the police that they woke up to the situation,” Bhuse added.

Meanwhile, uneasy calm prevailed in Malegaon, where the people observed a spontaneous bandh to protest against the incident.

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