'Banning Beef is against the right to freedom,' SP's Iqra Hasan criticises Assam' Beef ban

New Delhi [India], December 5 : Samajwadi Party MP Iqra Hasan on Thursday hit out at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for imposing a complete ban on beef consumption in hotels, and public places in Assam.
"This is against the right to freedom and if the government will continue interfering in personal lives then the nation will head towards dictatorship...It is the beauty of the country that we have people following different cultures and religions. These kinds of decisions are against the Constitution," she said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged that the Assam CM should remember tha he had lost the Jharkhand election when he made it about Hindus vs Muslims.
"That's a decision for the Government to make. There is nothing political about it. What is important to note is that the CM continues to hope to get some political brownie points based on some accusations that he has levied against the Opposition. So, it is a choice that he had to make and he has made the choice. But if he is trying to derive any political benefit out of it, he should remember that as an in charge of Jharkhand, he just managed to lose an election when he made it about Hindus vs Muslims," she said.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi echoed the UBT Sena Mp saying that the Assam CM was trying to his his electoral defeat in Jharkhand.
" In Jharkhand, BJP suffered a shameful defeat under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma...he is trying to hide his defeat and shameful loss, he has come up with this conspiracy. I believe that the way Jharkhand people defeated the politics of hatred and infiltrators, the same way in the coming election, people of Assam will punish the corrupt govt of Himanta Biswa Sarma," he said.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the government has decided to ban serving and consumption of beef in any restaurant, hotel and public places across the state.
The CM said the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, passed in 2021, has been quite successful in ensuring the slaughter of cattle, and "now we have decided to stop the consumption of beef in public places."
"We had passed the law on prohibition of cattle slaughter three years ago, and it was quite successful, so now, in Assam, we have decided that beef will not be served in any restaurant or hotel and also it will not be served in any public function or public place, so from today we have completely decided to stop the consumption of beef in hotels, restaurants and public places," the Assam CM said.
The CM said that the earlier decision was to only restrict consumption of beef near temples, but now the government has expanded it to the whole state.
"Earlier our decision was to stop eating beef near temples but now we have expanded it to the entire state so you will not be able to eat it in any community place, public place, hotel or restaurant," Sarma said.
Meanwhile, on Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal violence, Samajwadi Party MP Iqra demanded action against officers for firing bullets on the crowd.
"First of all, recovery should be made from those officers who are trained to control the crowd. Despite this, they broke the law and order and fired bullets on the people. Posters of the officers should be put up and action should be taken against them."