Beef politics: Is BJP's assurance on food habits to north east leaders a poll trick?

Bharatiya Janata Party is leaving no stone unturned to make inroads into the north eastern states where Congress and other regional parties have been in power for decades.

Manipur has become the third state with a BJP government after Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

On Tuesday, as party chief Amit Shah unveiled the second conclave of North Eastern Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a top BJP leader reassured leaders from north eastern states that the party did not intend to dictate what people should eat, NDTV reported.

This news comes just a day after Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons called eating beef a matter of choice for Keralites.

Electoral victory over ideology?

Though BJP at the union level displays a hard stance when it comes to cow slaughter and beef consumption, the party, at several instances, aiming an electoral win, spoke in support of it.

Sreeprakash, who contested in a by-election from Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, which constitutes 65 percent Muslim population, had assured "quality beef and standard abattoirs in my constituency" as part of a poll pledge.

In contrast, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Ram Singh, some days before Sreeprakash's statements, had proposed death sentence for cow killers.

Now, in the latest stance, in an attempt to see the NEDA in power in all the eight states in the north east, a party leader has said that food habits won't be dictated and cultural diversity of the region will be respected.

The question regarding beef ban came up during a presentation by the Sikkim government as the state is the first in the north east to ban all kinds of cow slaughter with a punishment of minimum two years imprisonment, NDTV reported.

When Paul Lyngdoh and MP Conrad Sangma, leaders from Meghalaya, which is one of the four states in the NE to go to elections, raised the question regarding the matter, senior leader and NDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma intervened and said local customs will be respected.

In June, a few BJP leaders had exited the party in Meghalaya over the same issue.

The party that won with a thumping majority in 2014 is now compromising on its core ideologies, which may also attract the ire of RSS, its mentor, purely for a poll victory makes one wonder if the leaders can be trusted.

Cow protection was part of BJP's manifesto during 2014 polls, but nobody expected it will result in the empowering of 'above the law' gau rakshaks.

After winning and coming to power, it wouldn't be a surprise if the leaders go back on their words.