The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on May 27. 

THE notification of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change that bans sale of cattle for slaughter is an atrocious attempt by the Modi government to give legal cover for its wholly communal and divisive agenda to impose a diet code on the country.

It will destroy the livelihood of crores of farmers involved in animal husbandry, eliminate traditional cattle fairs, put an unfair burden on farmers to care for useless cattle. This further burdens the farmers who are increasingly resorting to distress suicides due to escalating input costs. It will also impact on the leather industry and the meat export industry affecting the livelihood of lakhs of people.

The notification is also an encroachment on the rights of the states under whose jurisdiction such issues fall.

The CPI(M) strongly condemns and opposes the notification and demands its withdrawal.