Congress accuses Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of leaving leather artisans jobless, cattle helpless, and citizens monitored
Congress attacked BJP on grounds of damaging the leather and meat industry in the state leaving leather artisans jobless in a press conference today.They also accused the BJP government of forming a citizen surveillance government.
Current Congress MLA Sharad Kumar and ex MLA Priyank Kharge accused the BJP government’s Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020 to have left 3.5 lakh leather artisans with no job and on the road.
Kumar said that the Act targets specific social communities as it has a negative impact on scheduled caste and scheduled tribe farmers and leather workers. “They won’t ask help from the central government, they’re only interested in their 40 percent commission,” he said. The Act has affected Karnataka’s leather and meat industrial economy.
Kumar further attacked the BJP government’s lack of effort in running the animal ambulances programs and preventing lumpy skin disease which has affected around 20 lakh cattle in the country
He said, “ Though the government has introduced the Act for their love for goumatha, in reality they do no real work for cow welfare.” In relation to the animal ambulances purchased by the government he said, “The Pashu Sanjeevani ambulances were purchased with huge amounts of money. But there are no drivers,” .
Dr. Hrishikesh, professor of Political Science at Maharani College, said that in relation to the lumpy skin disease, the unfamiliar nature of it resulted in a lot of neglect by the government. “People don’t know how it works in humans. This is why a lot of the doctors were worried about treating animals with lumpy skin disease.”
Dr. Hrishikesh said that the lack of drivers is a very minor problem for the government. “If the government wants to, it’ll take two minutes to acquire drivers for the Pashu Sanjeevani ambulances. A lot of such half hearted schemes and programmes are made before elections,” he said.
In another jab at the BJP’s attempts of linking Aadhar card with mobile numbers, Kumar accused the BJP of following a citizen surveillance government which monitors and tracks all individuals. “We have to connect our phone numbers to everything, which includes social media. They want to track our online social presence,” Kumar concluded.
Dr. Hrishikesh said that the mobile number being linked to Aadhar card has been done in order to reduce crime, especially against women and children.
