Mumbai, Aug 13 (PTI) The BJP on Wednesday said the policy to keep abattoirs shut on Independence Day was first implemented in 1988 when NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar was chief minister of Maharashtra, and sought to know if the opposition would question the veteran politician about it.
Maharashtra BJP's chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye posed this question to NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad and Shiv Sena (UBT) legislator Aaditya Thackeray in the wake of a row over some civic bodies in the state ordering the closure of slaughterhouses and shops selling meat on August 15.
Upadhye said the policy to keep abattoirs shut on August 15 was originally framed by the Congress government then led by Shankarrao Chavan.
"Within a month in 1988, Sharad Pawar became the chief minister and implemented the policy for the first time," he said.
During the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, in which both Awhad and Thackeray were ministers, the same practice continued without any protest from them, he claimed.
Pawar served as a four-time chief minister of Maharashtra. He became the CM for the first time in 1978.
The MVA, in which the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), undivided NCP and Congress shared power, ruled the state from November 2019 till its collapse in June 2022.
"Will they seek a response from Sharad Pawar for taking such a decision back then? Will they criticise him too? Awhad and Thackeray should respond to it now," Upadhye said.
"Both of them (Awhad and Thackeray) have lost their (original) parties and government. Therefore, they are depressed and find fault with any decision to target the state government," he alleged.
The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation has announced the closure of slaughterhouses, outlets and shops selling meat within city limits on two days - August 15 and 20 - in view of festivals.
It stated the closure was ordered on August 15 on the occasion of Gokul Ashtami, a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, and August 20, which marks the beginning of 'Paryushan Parva' - a key festival of the Jain community characterised by fasting and prayers.
The order comes on the heels of the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) in Thane district near Mumbai directing the closure of meat shops on August 15.
There are reports that the Malegaon Municipal Corporation, too, issued such an order.
Deputy Commissioner (Licensing) Kanchan Gaikwad, who signed the order, emphasised that the move was in keeping with long-standing administrative resolutions to ensure public order and observance of important national occasions.
Aaditya Thackeray earlier said the KDMC commissioner should be suspended because it is not their issue to decide on vegetarian or non-vegetarian food consumption.
"It is our decision what to eat and not to eat on Independence Day. We will definitely eat non-veg food. The commissioner should instead address the issue of potholes on streets," Thackeray said.
Awhad has said he would host a mutton party that day to protest the ban by the KDMC.