Centre should enact law to check cow slaughter: Azam Khan

Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan has demanded that the Centre should enact an effective law to check cow slaughter and prevent people from making "irresponsible statements" on the issue of beef and bovines.

Khan, in a letter to Shankaracharya of Govardhan Peeth Swami Adhokshjanand Maharaj on Thursday, thanked him for gifting a cow for his diary and urged him to "talk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding a law to check cow slaughter". The Hindu seer had gifted Khan a black cow after the latter had expressed his desire to have one in his dairy.

Seeking that "cow shouldn't be made a matter of controversy or debate", he said, "The Centre should also come up with a new law to prevent people from making irresponsible remarks on the issue of beef and bovines." The central government should make arrangements for providing shelter to stray cattle and take steps to check sale of dead bovines, said the UP Minister of Minority Welfare and Urban Development.

"If a living animal is a matter of faith for us then its last rites should also be performed in the same letter and spirit. Don't sell a cattle you love. "The Prime Minister should stress on creating an environment of love and harmony, and not make it an issue of controversy," he wrote in the letter.