Courage of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Editorial

It is possible to take any decision if there is intense nationalism, love for Dharma and strong & clear ideological outlook !

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has amended the Cattle Preservation Bill. The Bill empowers the Police to search a cow-smuggler’s house and confiscate his property acquired through  illegal animal trade in the past six years. The Bill would allow the cow-smuggler’s vehicles to be auctioned off.

Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken this very bold decision since cow-smuggling has become a menace in India. Cows are smuggled into Bangladesh, especially from areas bordering Bengal and Assam. Cows are craned over the fence on the Indo-Bangladesh border with a special mechanical device. In a similar manner, cows are pushed into rivers and streams and sent across the border. There are frequent skirmishes between the cow-smugglers and the Border Security Force on the border areas of Assam. From 1st December 2019 to 30^th November 2020, 24,060 cows were freed by the Border Security Force. This shows how serious is the issue of cow-smuggling.

Bold and fearless decisions related to cows

In some incidents, cow-protectors lost their lives due to clashes between cow-protectors and cow-smugglers. This led to some serious questioning. Cows were also smuggled from Assam to Bengal. In July, Himanta Biswa Sarma had said, “The cow is our mother and we will not allow people who smuggle her to go unpunished”. He commenced his actions accordingly in stages.

Earlier in August, a Bill was passed to amend the law on animals. Accordingly, the slaughter of cows and the sale of beef was banned within a radius of 5 kms from the places of worship of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains. He had also said before amending the law – ‘Hindus worship cows, therefore, beef should be banned in places where Hindus live’.

The steps being taken by Himanta Biswa Sarma in the context of cows amounts to real cow protection. He did not stop at just saying that cows should be protected, cow is our mother, but took firm actions to protect cows. Himanta Biswa Sarma is originally from the Congress party; however, an incident involving Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made him realise the true nature of the Congress, and Sarma left the Congress and joined the BJP.

However, after joining the BJP and now becoming the Chief Minister of Assam, no one will believe that he was a Congressman in the first place. Whatever time a Hindu Chief Minister will take to implement a decision, Sarma has taken in just a few months. Some days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, ‘Talking about cows has become a crime in our country’. What kind of pressure there must be even on the Prime Minister of the country that has to make such a statement !

In such a situation, how difficult must it be to take decisions about cows, to make related laws. Maharashtra has baned cattle-slaughter. However, due to tardy implementation, cows are being slaughtered openly, and beef is being transported illegally. Misconduct can be prevented if effective action is taken in decision-making as well as its implementation. ‘If a rapist is fleeing from the Police, the Police will have to open fire’, Sarma had said a few months ago. He highlighted that to curb crime, only the principles of ‘Sam, Dam, Dand and Bhed’ (mutual understanding, money, force and discrimination) would apply.

Closure of madarasas 

Earlier, Sarma had closed down 700 madarasas. It is also said that the remaining madarasas would be converted into medical colleges and hospitals. At that time, Sarma had said that the Muslim community will not vote for him nor will he go to them for votes. But when young Muslims emerge from educational institutions as doctors, engineers, they will realise that his decision was correct. From this, his adherence to principles also came to the fore.

Some days ago, Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi (aka Waseem Rizvi) converted from Islam to Hindu Dharma; he had created a stir by saying that madarasas create terrorists. In his view, madarasa students participate in terrorist activities, they are not loyal to the country. Therefore, madarasas should be banned, and science and mathematics should be included in their curriculum. Sarma is daring to fulfil this demand after a few years.

Sarma’s decisions were opposed by the opposition and others; however, he does not succumb to pressure. He can theoretically justify every decision he makes and how is his decision right. He can articulate his viewpoint in discussions on the TV channels.

Sarma has shown that with intense nationalism and love for Dharma, zeal to do something for the country, abiding by principles, courage to take decisions and strong & clear ideological outlook, any decision can be taken. If the Chief Ministers of other States follow his example, many problems of Hindus and India will be solved and ‘Hindu Rashtra (Nation)’ will materialise.