NEW DELHI, April 10: The Indian parliament was plunged into acrimony on Thursday as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party adopted a resolution that seeks to ban the slaughter of cows across the country.

The victory in parliament’s 545-seat lower house is a small step for the BJP as the resolution is doomed to be shot down in the upper house, analysts said.

The move is also the third time in India’s legislative history when members have introduced or forced a vote on a resolution seeking a federal law to protect cows from the butcher’s knife.

The cow is worshipped across India and the issue has been one of the key electoral planks of Prime Minister Vajpayee’s BJP and its rightwing allies. —AFP