Indian state bans eating beef in public

Cow is considered sacred animal by India's majority Hindu population

The northeastern Indian state of Assam has banned the consumption of beef in public places including restaurants and events.

This is an expansion to an earlier rule that restricted the sale of beef near certain religious places like temples, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday.

However, the meat can still be purchased from shops and eaten within homes or private establishments in the state.

The consumption of beef is a sensitive issue in India, as cows are revered by Hindus, who comprise 80% of the country's population.

Several states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - which is also in power in Assam - have cracked down heavily on cow slaughter in recent years.

About two-thirds of India's 28 states, many of them governed by the BJP, have partially or fully banned cattle slaughter and beef consumption (though consumption of buffalo meat is legal in some of these places).

In many parts of India, cow vigilante groups have been accused of enforcing the ban through violence, often leading to deadly attacks on Muslim meat sellers and cattle traders and Dalits (formerly untouchables), for whom beef is a staple and cheap form of protein.

In Assam, the sale and purchase of beef was banned in 2021 in areas where Hindus, Jains and Sikhs - who don't usually eat beef - live. That law also prohibited the sale of beef near temples.

Sarma said that the new ban on public consumption will be added to that existing law.

The decision comes days after India's main opposition party Congress claimed that Sarma had used beef to win a by-election in Samaguri, a Muslim-majority constituency - a charge denied by the BJP.

Congress legislator Rakibul Hussain had said that by "offering beef" to voters, the chief minister had "betrayed" his own party's Hindu nationalist values.

The statements sparked a political slugfest, with Sarma on Wednesday saying he was willing to impose a complete ban on beef in the state, if that's what the Congress wanted.

Meanwhile, other political parties have criticised the ban, saying it interfered with people's right to eat what they want.

“If they cannot ban beef in Goa or other northeastern states, why in Assam?” said Hafiz Rafiqul Islam, a member of the All India United Democratic Front.

The sale and consumption of beef is legal in some states, including Goa and Arunachal Pradesh, which are ruled by the BJP.