Mumbai: Sharad Pawar meets Muslim leaders; Bakri Eid rules may be revised

MUMBAI: Dismayed by the state government’s ‘ambiguous’ guidelines for Bakri Eid celebratuions, including symbolic qurbani, online purchase of goats and their transportation into the city, Muslim leaders turned to NCP chief Sharad Pawar for help, who then called a meeting on Monday to resolve the matter.
After lending a ‘patient’ ear to the Muslim leaders, Pawar sent Congress ministers Balasaheb Thorat and Anil Deshmukh to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray “to discuss the matter”.Sources said that the Maha Vikas Agadi government is likely to issue revised guidelines for Bakri Eid celebrations in a day or two. The festival falls on August 1.
The meeting held at Y B Chavan Centre was attended by ministers Thorat, Deshmukh, Nawab Malik, Jitendra Awhad, former ministers Arif Naseem Khan and Baba Siddiqui, MLAs Amin Patel, Abu Asim Azmi, Rais Shaikh, Zeeshan Siddiqui and several senior bureaucrats and police and civic officers.
“Our first demand was that transportation of goats be made easy. There have been complaints of cops stopping vehicles ferrying goats into the city,” said SP leader Rais Shaikh. “I also demanded that slaughter of buffaloes at Deonar be allowed on Bakri Eid and arrangements for temporary slaughter at small towns like Bhiwandi be permitted.”
Former Congress minister Arif Naseem Khan concurred and reiterated his demand to withdraw the symbolic qurbani guideline.
Congress legislator Amin Patel said that Pawar heard them patiently and agreed that the transportation of goats to those who have booked them online for the festival should be hassle-free.
Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddiqui said the issue of allowing slaughter in housing societies was also raised at the meeting. “With social distancing norms in place due to coronavirus, people should be allowed to slaughter goats in buildings,” he said. His father, former minister Baba Siddiqui too objected to the “harassment” of traders transporting goats into the city.
Meanwhile, former MIM legislator Waris Pathan complained that he was not invited for the meeting.