Protests break out across Gujarat ahead of polls

New protests have been launched by cattle-rearing communities in North Gujarat and Saurashtra demanding that the new law against the menace of stray cattle in urban areas ben scrapped

Ahead of the assembly polls, Gujarat is witnessing a series of protests by different groups and communities pressing for resolution of their grievances and demands while raising the political temperature in the state.

A section of state employees continue to protest pushing their demands while new protests have been launched by cattle-rearing communities in North Gujarat and Saurashtra demanding that the new law against the menace of stray cattle in urban areas ben scrapped.

Irked by the arrest of former Dudhsagar dairy chairman Vipul Chaudhary in alleged corruption and financial irregularities, the Chaudhary community under the banner of Arbuda Sena have launched protests across north Gujarat accusing the ruling party of targeting the community leader Vipul Chaudhary ahead of the elections.

On Sunday, more than 20,000 cattle rearers and dairy farmers held a mega gathering in Shertha near Gandhinagar to protest the law that was passed in the state assembly in the last budget session.

The Gujarat Cattle Control (Keeping and Moving) in Urban Areas Bill, 2022, aims to regulate cattle in eight municipal corporations and 162 municipalities across the state.

“The community engaged in rearing animals to provide milk has resolved to demand that the law against stray cattle be scrapped. We want the state government to move for the repeal of the law in the coming session of the state assembly,” said Nagji Desai, a spokesman of Gujarat Maldhari Panchayat, an umbrella group that has united all different communities engaged in dairy farming in the state.

The group has also released a charter of their demands including providing lands in urban areas for cattle.