Hailakandi, June 12: The controversy over the Centre's ban on the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter in markets has spread to Mizoram, the third state in the Northeast to protest after Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
A social media group - Zolife, which has over 9,000 members on Facebook - organised a "beef festival" in Aizawl today as Union home minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Mizoram's capital to review the security situation along the India-Myanmar border.
Nearly 3,000 people, including women, braved incessant rain to participate in the festival, which was organised as a symbolic protest against the Centre's ban under the Prevention of Cruelty Towards Animals Act.
A survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation two years ago had revealed that the northeastern states, except Tripura, are among the top beef consumers in India. Twenty-three per cent people in Mizoram eat beef on a regular basis. The beef issue is being taken seriously by various political parties because Assembly elections will be held in Mizoram and Meghalaya next year.
The participants at today's beef festival raised slogans against the Centre and its beef ban ordinance. Some of them said beef is one of the traditional food items of the Mizo people. The festival follows another such event organised at Tura in Meghalaya on Saturday.
During a news conference in Aizawl this evening, Rajnath Singh said there is no restriction on the food habits of people under the law. State BJP chief J.V. Hluna said there is no problem in eating beef in Mizoram.
At today's meeting, Singh asked the four northeastern states that share borders with Myanmar to bring the 240 villages situated within 10km of the porous border under active policing in order to check the movement of militants, drugs and arms.
Singh asked the chief ministers of Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh to open police stations and police posts near the border to prevent cross-border crimes. Nearly 2.5 lakh people live within the 10km stretch of the India-Myanmar border.
"India's border with Myanmar is unique in many ways. It has a visa-free movement regime for the people living within 16km on either side of the border. They can stay upto 72 hours with effective and valid permits issued by the designated authorities....This regime has been in place keeping in view the traditional social relations among the border people. But it is misused by militants and criminals who smuggle weapons, narcotics, contraband goods and fake Indian currency notes. With the fast-improving security situation in this region, militants are denied hideouts here and some of them have relocated across the border. Taking advantage of the free-movement regime, occasionally they enter India, commit crimes and escape to their hideouts," Singh said.
