Adityanath orders closure of abattoirs; bans cow smuggling

In keeping with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday directed police officials to prepare an action plan for closure of slaughterhouses across the state.

He also ordered a blanket ban on smuggling of cows and said zero tolerance would be exercised in this regard.

Official sources did not specify the type of slaughterhouses which will be shut.

However, the BJP manifesto had said that all the illegal slaughterhouses would be closed and there would be a blanket ban on all the mechanised slaughterhouses.

The BJP document had observed that due to cow smuggling, dairy-based industries have failed to flourish.

It noted that during the past state governments there has been a fall in cattle count, reflecting that bovine smuggling was rampant.

BJP chief Amit Shah in his election meetings had emphasised that the moment his party comes to power in the state, it would ban all slaughterhouses.

Meanwhile, the personal website of Adityanath has been seeking public opinion for curbing cow slaughter.

The website, www.yogiadityanath.in, of ‘Parampujya Mahant Adityanathji Maharaj, mukhyamantri (UP)’, has elicited views on if stern laws should be enacted banning cow slaughter.

A whopping 80 per cent of respondents by 5 pm favoured enacting a tough law, while 19 per cent have spoken against it.

The ‘yes-no’ survey has not mentioned the views expressed by the rest one per cent.

The chief minister, who starts his day by feeding cows at a gaushala in Gorakhpur, has always supported ban on cow slaughter and publicly expressed his views.

The website is managed by Santosh Yadav, a close aide of the CM, from Gorakhnath Mutt in Gorakhpur.

The opinion poll appears at the bottom of the homepage and reads: ‘Do we need to formulate a strict law to stop cow slaughter?’ The respondents have been asked to mention their full name and mobile number.

There is, however, some confusion on when the opinion poll was started.

While some say that it was initiated before Adityanath took over as the CM, there are others claiming that it has been stared just a couple of days ago.