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Assam district officials told to enforce law that bars sale of cattle meat within 5km of temples: CM
Himanta Biswa Sarma alleged there was a concerted effort by some elements, both within the state and outside, to create communal tensions in Assam
GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said the district officials have been ordered to strictly comply with provisions of the Assam Cattle Preservation Act 2021 that prohibits the slaughter of cattle and sale of their meat within a five-kilometre radius of any Hindu religious place.
“It appears that one of the provisions of the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, which bans killing, slaughter, sale, purchase and consumption of cattle meat within a five-km radius of religious places, wasn’t followed stringently ahead of Eid-al-Adha this year,” the chief minister told reporters.
“That’s why we witnessed several instances of people trying to create communal tension by placing cow meat at temples and other religious places at Dhubri, Lakhipur, Lakhimpur and Hojai. Now we have directed all district authorities to ensure strict compliance with that provision so that such incidents don’t take place,” he said, claiming that there was an effort by rival groups to spread communal tension in the state by throwing cattle meat at religious places and promoting hate on social media.
Sarma alleged there was a concerted effort by some elements, both within the state and outside, to create communal tensions in Assam, especially through social media platforms.
He said about 5,000-6,000 social media accounts had recently been activated that support a particular political party and spread hate. “We have conducted forensic analysis of 2,093 Facebook accounts and found that nearly 700 are operated from Bangladesh, around 350 accounts have origins in Pakistan and around 500 in countries in the Middle East,” the CM said.
“Besides, there are many accounts from over 40 other countries. Most of these posts have content with hardcore Islamic fundamentalist ideals and express support for one particular political party and its leader from Assam,” he added.
“This is the first time we are witnessing such foreign involvement in Assam politics. We have informed the Centre about these accounts and their activities so that some countermeasures can be taken from a national security perspective,” he said.
