New Delhi, Dec 4: The Assam government has decided to ban consumption of beef in public places including hotels and restaurants in the state, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday.

The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting held in the national capital that the Chief Minister chaired.

Sarma told reporters here, “We previously imposed a ban on consumption of beef in an area within five five-kilometre radius of temples and other prayer places. However, now we have decided to extend this restriction and a total ban of consuming beef in public places in Assam is prohibited from today.”

“The restriction also includes serving of beef in hotels, restaurants and at any other community festivals in the state. The defaulters will be punished as per the provision laid down under the law,” he added.

The Chief Minister also took a swipe at the Congress party and said, “Some of the Congress leaders including the state president have spoken about banning beef consumption in the state. We already had a strict law regarding this; however, the matter was thoroughly discussed in today’s cabinet meeting and we have come up with a blanket ban on consuming beef in public places across the state.”

Earlier, Sarma said that if state Congress President Bhupen Kumar Borah wrote to him requesting it, he would be willing to outlaw beef in Assam.

Sarma said he was pleased that the opposition party brought up the claim that the BJP gave out beef in order to win the Muslim-majority Samaguri, which had been ruled by the Congress for five terms in a row.

He stated, “Samaguri spent 25 years under Congress rule and the greatest embarrassment in Congress' history is that it lost a constituency like Samaguri by 27,000 votes. It is the Congress' loss more than the BJP's victory.”

Following the debacle of a Congress candidate in Samaguri, Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain alleged that the ruling party could win this constituency by distributing beef to the public.

Hussain has been representing Samaguri in the Assembly since 2001 and he vacated this seat after winning Lok Sabha polls this year. The Congress gave the ticket to his son Tanzil Hussain in Samaguri in the recently concluded by-election.

Sarma asked, “I would like to know if Congress was able to win Samaguri by providing voters with beef. He (Rakibul Hussain) is well acquainted with Samaguri. Does this imply that beef can be offered to win Samaguri?”

He further said, “Since Rakibul Hussain stated that beef should be prohibited, I would like to inform him of this. He just needs to write to me that beef should be prohibited in Assam.”

--IANS

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