Amid a growing chorus for stringent cow protection laws, Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh on Saturday towed a similar line.
"We will hang those who kill cows," Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh declared as no end seemed in sight to the row over enforcement of beef ban and crackdown on illegal slaughter houses in Uttar Pradesh.
"Does such a thing happen in Chhattisgarh? I don't think it has happened in the last 15 years (of BJP rule). If it happens, we will hang those who dare do it," Singh told reporters in Raipur.
He was responding to queries by journalists whether his government would, like Yogi Adityanath's in UP, take a tough stand on cow slaughter.
Slaughter of cow, buffalo, bull, bullock, calf, and possession of their meat is banned in Chhattisgarh. Transport, export to other states for slaughter is also banned. These offences attract same punishment of 7 years jail and fine up to Rs 50,000.
Meanwhile, amid shortage of meat in UP following the clampdown on illegal abbatoirs and retail shops running without licences, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi accused the BJP of "hypocrisy" over beef ban.
"In UP, cow is mummy, and in the northeastern states it's yummy. This shows BJP's hypocrisy. While they are talking about beef ban in UP, they have said there would be no such thing in the northeast.
"Assembly elections are going to be held in three states in the northeast. Beef is easily available in (BJP-ruled) Goa.
You tell me what is this," he told a TV news channel.Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh, meanwhile, said the crackdown on illegal slaughter houses was aimed at making them compliant with the court guidelines and questioned why the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government sat on the issue for three years.
"We are bemused to hear Akhilesh Yadav's complaint that carnivorous animals in zoos of UP are suffering because of shortage of meat. He should tell the people of the state why he failed to make slaughter houses compliant with the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal," Singh told reporters in Allahabad.
On Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat enacted a harsher law providing for life-term for those found involved in cow-slaughtering.
Following Adityanath's order on closing down on illegal slaughterhouses, several states, including as many as five of the BJP-ruled states have followed in for the closure of illegal abattoirs across the country.
Several slaughter house owners and meat sellers in Uttar Pradesh have closed their shops following an indefinite strike call by different associations in protest against the order.
Even as the Jharkhand Government earlier last week issued an order for closure of all illegal slaughterhouses in the state within 72 hours, the Gujarat State Assembly on Friday amended its Cow Protection Law introducing a life term for those slaughtering the animal.
Seven illegal slaughterhouses were sealed in Bihar's Rohtas district after the Patna High Court directed them be sealed within six weeks. In Karnataka too, the Gau Samrakshana Prakoshta and Karnataka Federation of Gaushaalas reportedly have demanded 1,700 meat shops in the city be closed down as they are unauthorised.
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