With the elections round the corner in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress high command is believed to have asked Chief Minister Digvijay Singh to go slow on the issue of cow slaughter. Digvijay had recently forwarded a representation made to him to the Prime Minister that a law should be enacted to ban the slaughter of cows all over India. But his party high command is apparently not in favour of raising the issue at a national level. The Congress fears that the BJP might try to take advantage of the issue at a national level by whipping up popular sentiments on something that it regards a non-issue. Mumbai bans cow slaughter after Bhiwandi, warns Dal MUMBAI: On the eve of Bakri Id, police in Mumbai have banned cow slaughter in the city and warned activists of Bajrang Dal against taking the law into their hands by seizing sacrificial animals. The order comes in the wake of tension in Bhiwandi where a 1,000-strong mob protested against the seizure of cattle being taken for slaughter resulting in injury to 34 people, including 26 policemen. Muslim leaders met with Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde over the past week to appeal for peaceful conduct of the festival tomorrow. Director General of Police Subhash Malhotra and police commissioners of Mumbai and Thane also attended the meetings. Later, Maulana Kuddoos Kashmiri told reporters that ‘‘we promised them that keeping in mind the sentiments of the other community, there would be no cow slaughter on Id. But Dal activists are still harassing us.’’ Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Ahmad Javed said: ‘‘We will be deploying additional forces for the festival. We are organising meetings with various Muslim leaders to ensure peace.’’ Though buffaloes and bullock are permitted to be slaughtered only in licensed slaughter houses, smaller animals can be sacrificed outside homes in closed enclosures. (ENS) Senior Congress leaders said they still remember how sants and sadhus had taken to the streets in 1967 to demand a ban on the killing of cows. They said the party is, however, open to a consensus on the issue if the BJP leadership wants to enact a Central legislation banning cow slaughter. As it is, the BJP has been latching on to emotive issues on the eve of elections, the Congress leaders feel. Before the Gujarat elections, the party had resorted to Pakistan-bashing, which it continues to do. Now, it has also zeroed in on Bangladesh, with its expected fallout in the North-East where polls are due in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura at the end of this month.Digvijay had explained to the party high command, when he was here recently, that he had merely ‘‘forwarded’’ a memorandum he had received on the issue to the PM. He had played down the import of his move, which was seen as a strike against the VHP and the Uma Bharati-led BJP that are trying to corner him on issues such as cow slaughter and conversions. As far as Digvijay’s secular credentials go, they are impeccable, say his supporters. But the CM’s recent stand on the ban on cow slaughter has given his detractors the opportunity to dub him a ‘‘soft saffron’’. While the Congress leadership understands Digvijay’s political compulsions in the state, which goes to polls in October, it is reportedly of the view that the issue of cow slaughter has wider ramifications and a comprehensive party line needs to be evolved. The issue illustrates the dilemma the Congress increasingly finds itself in on the position it should take on Hindutva. There is a raging debate in the party on how to define secularism. Broadly, there are three schools of thought in the party today. Most adhere to the view that communalism in all its form should be shunned, the line pursued by Digvijay Singh.Then there is the view that the Congress should not come across as a party only of the 15 pc minority and that the minority community must understand that their welfare lies in the goodwill and support of the majority, a position akin to Kerala CM A.K. Antony, who by no stretch of imagination can be called a communalist. Manmohan Singh is also believed to be of the same view.The third line is reportedly articulated by Mani Shankar Aiyer that the Congress has forgotten both Nehru and Gandhi and that while minority communalism was bad, majority communalism leads to spurious nationalism.
