New Delhi, Oct 6 (NDTV): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, like many other politicians, made an "unannounced" trip to Bisada village on Saturday and met with family members of Mohammed Akhlaq - the victim who was lynched by a mob over rumours of cow slaughter - but the Congress party seem to support a ban on cow slaughter.

"Out of 29 states, cow slaughter is banned in 24 states and they were promulgated during Congress rule," senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told NDTV adding, "I want to tell you that even during Mughal rule, cow slaughter was banned."

Mr Singh accused the BJP of raising the issue as an attempt to hide their failures. "The BJP want to hide their incompetence and failure by raising this issue now. The economy is not doing well, there is inflation and pulses are selling well over Rs. 100 a kilo. These are the issues that the government should be talking about," said Mr Singh.

Asked to comment if political parties should dictate people's dietary preferences by talking about a need ban, Mr Singh said: "First of all, there should be a debate on the definition of beef. Is buffalo meat beef? Then, every section should be consulted as sentiments of a particular community are involved."

Mr Singh's stand was echoed by his party colleagues like Pramod Tiwari -- a Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh and a member of the Rajya Sabha -- who addressed the party's official media briefing on Monday.

Announcing that the Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh would hold a day long fast on October 10 to bridge the trust deficit between Hindus and Muslims over eating beef, Mr Tiwari took a nuanced position on the issue of dietary habits of the people." It isn't for political parties to decide on what people should wear or eat but what the Constitution guarantees," said Mr Tiwari.

He also refused to comment on the statement made by their Bihar ally, Lalu Prasad, who had said "Hindus too eat beef."

"I have said what our party had to say and you can ask Laluji what he meant by his statement," said Mr Tiwari in an obvious attempt to downplay an issue that holds the potential of polarising votes in election bound Bihar.