Cattle law state subject: Singh

Sidharth Nath Singh

TT, Calcutta, June 3: BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh today accused Mamata Banerjee of pursuing a "communal agenda" to politicise and communalise the central ban on sale of cattle in animal markets for slaughter but endorsed her view that the matter was a state subject.

"The rules were changed to ensure unhealthy and old cattle do not reach the animal markets.... She is politicising and communalising it by linking it with the Ramazan month. She has a communal agenda," Singh said.

Mamata had said the Centre's May 23 notification was "political" because it was issued just days before the start of the holy month of Ramazan. She had instructed her administration not to implement the order, saying the state had exclusive powers under Article 246 of the Constitution to make laws with respect to any matter enumerated in the Seventh Schedule.

Singh, the BJP's co-minder for Bengal, agreed that the matter was a state subject, which meant Mamata was well within her rights to oppose the central notification.

Singh had been a fierce critic of Mamata after being named the BJP minder for Bengal in August 2014. While launching an attack on Trinamul in connection with the Saradha scam, he had coined slogans such as " Bhag, Mamata bhag (run, Mamata run). His connection with the Bengal BJP unit waned when Kailash Vijayvargiya was made the party's Bengal in-charge in 2015 and Singh the co-minder.

Told about the slogan on Mamata, Singh today said: "It got delayed by five years.... We had expected it to happen in 2016, but it will happen in 2021. I think the victory of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh will be a turning point for Bengal as well," said Singh, the health minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.

Carrying on with her attack on Mamata, Singh said: "The BJP government came to power in Uttar Pradesh and closed down illegal slaughter houses. But the Bengal government closed down 125 schools, which explains her politics."

Singh was referring to the Bengal government's decision of closing down some RSS-backed schools in the state.

The Uttar Pradesh government's decision to close down illegal slaughter houses has, however, brought some good news for investment-starved Bengal. Recently, some prominent tannery owners from the state had met Bengal industries minister Amit Mitra and proposed to invest Rs 1,000 crore to set up tanneries in the wake of declining hide supply.

"The Bengal government has done so many global summits to attract investments but has got nothing. It's good that they have got the promise of a Rs 1,000-crore investment," he said.