BJP takes Diggi cue, seeks ban on cow slaughter

Using the petition for a national ban forwarded by Digvijay Singh to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as a launching pad, the BJP here today appealed to the Centre to come out with a bill to enforce it.

If the Centre obliges the BJP, the Congress will be forced to backtrack or go along with the BJP to ban cow slaughter. This implies either a loss of face among Hindus or a hostile reaction from minorities. In any case, the BJP stands to gain.

BJP parliamentary party secretary Vijay Kumar Malhotra told The Indian Express today: ‘‘The party has appealed to the government to ban cow slaughter through a legislation. We expect the Congress to stand by its own Chief Minister, who has forwarded a petition to the PM on the issue.’’

Asked if he had taken up the matter with Law Minister Arun Jaitley, Malhotra said he was currently abroad. ‘‘We would certainly approach him on this count once he returns,’’ he added.

Senior Congressmen were non-committal on the issue. As for the petition, they argued that Digvijay Singh had merely forwarded it. They had no answer to whether the CM usually forwarded all petitions received by him.