New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday indicated that it was ready to amend the language of the recent controversial cattle sale notification to clear doubts regarding its implementation.

“The issue has been blown out of proportion, it has been misunderstood. The Environment Ministry is actively reviewing the rules and considering amendments. The language will be amended to clear doubts, misinterpretations and misconceptions on an urgent basis. We are examining various petitions from the leather industry to states and non governmental organisations,” the Union Environment Minster Harsh Vardhan told media.

He said the aim of the rules was to prevent cruelty to animals.

“It has nothing to do with the slaughter business, it has nothing to do with changing your food habits. We don’t have an iota of intention to either influence anybody’s food habits nor do we want to affect the slaughter business. We are used to listening to the term fascist for years. We are the only party that works with dedication and commitment to serve this country,” he added.

His stand came days after Madras High Court suspended the rule for four weeks in Tamil Nadu.

On May 25, the Environment Ministry issued rules that restrict the sale of cattle through cattle markets for slaughter, a move that is likely to hit farmers and squeeze supplies to India’s Rs one lakh-crore meat industry.

The notification covers a host of animals such as cows, buffaloes, bullocks, calves and camels. The rules allow only farmland owners to trade cattle at markets, allegedly to limit the trade of the cattle only for agricultural purposes not for slaughter.

“No one can bring cattle to an animal market unless he or she has furnished a written declaration that the cattle will not be sold for the purpose of slaughter. Further, upon sale of cattle, the animal market committee will take an undertaking that the animals are for agricultural purposes and not for slaughter,” the gazette notification, titled Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change states.

The notification has triggered protests in several states, including Kerala and Meghalaya.

On Monday, Meghalaya Assembly passed a resolution demanding immediate withdrawal of the notification. The Assembly called the measure an “infringement” of the rights of states.

Earlier, Harsh Vardhan indicated that taking another hard look at the rules was not a prestige issue.

“Some vested interests have misconstrued the cattle trade rule. The government is willing to revisit the rule that bans slaughter of cattle sold in animal markets. It is not a prestige issue for us,” the Minister had stated last week.

Last week, the government’s chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian said any government had the right to choose its social policies but a ban on cattle slaughter would hurt the interests of farmers and meat industry.