New Delhi: Terming government's "hasty retreat" in Lok Sabha on introduction of Bill to ban cow slaughter as a "major reverse for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)", Congress on August 21 said it indicated that the party was "not sincere" in the matter and had brought the legislation "casually".

The "hasty retreat is a major reverse for the BJP as a great blow has been inflicted on it", party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters.

He said the government's decision to defer introduction of the measure amid protests by some National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners showed that BJP was "not sincere" in the matter and had brought the legislation "casually".

Reddy said Congress was for such a ban, in principle, as the party respected the sentiments of every religion.

He, however, said the party felt that enacting such a measure was infringement on the powers of state governments under whose purview the matter comes. "There was no need for us to tell our stand as before that government deferred the Bill".

PTI