Eyes on elections in North East next year, BJP assures states of non interference in food habits

With elections in four North Eastern states slated to take place next year, BJP hinted at a conference of North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) that the party didn’t intend to dictate food habits of the region. [caption id=“attachment_3971205” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Amit Shah. PTI[/caption] According to an  NDTV report, a senior BJP leader at the conference on Tuesday had assured the chief ministers of five northeastern states that the beef ban won’t be an issue in the region during the election campaign. The shift in the BJP stand comes on the heels of newly elected Union tourism minister Alphons Kannanthanam’s statement that the saffron party has no plans to impose a food code in any state of the country. “It is absolutely untrue. Kerala is a beef-eating state. It is not going to stop eating beef. It will continue to eat beef. BJP doesn’t have a problem,” Alphons told NDTV after assuming his charge of the tourism ministry. Although beef is still readily available in most parts of the region as it’s a staple diet there, in politics perception is the reality. The fear that the BJP at the Centre may bring in beef restrictions especially since the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Market) Rules, 2017 was notified by the Centre on 23 May was real, particularly in Meghalaya . On 5 June, the BJP president of North Garo Hills district of Meghalaya Bachu Marak resigned from the party. Bachu’s resignation comes four days after West Garo Hills district president Bernard Mark made an exit from the party on the issue of beef ban. “I cannot compromise on the sentiments of the Garos. As a Garo, it is my responsibility to protect the interest of my community. Beef eating is part of our culture and tradition. Imposition of BJP’s non-secular ideology on us is not acceptable”, Bachu had said after resigning from the party. The meeting between North East-based political parties and the BJP was the second such conclave and is significant because Assembly elections are due in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland in March 2018. Mizoram will go for elections in December 2018, reported livemint.com. The BJP leadership is keen that NDA performs well in the North Eastern states in the 2019 General Elections. The eight states collectively have 25 Lok Sabha seats, the website reported. Presently, BJP has governments in three North East states: Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. In Nagaland and Sikkim, it’s part of the coalition governments. At the NEDA conference held in New Delhi, BJP president Amit Shah said he wants the coalition to come in power in all the eight states. At the meeting, NDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma, had also reportedly said that the BJP did not want to interfere with the food habits or local customs of people and that every state was at liberty to draft laws according to local customs and rituals. NEDA is a coalition formed by the BJP last year with regional political parties from the region.