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‘Killing in the name of cow worship is not acceptable,’ says PM Modi

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PM Modi AV

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have hit out at self-styled ‘gau rakshaks’ on Thursday but cow protectors flourished in his home state Gujarat when he was the chief minister.

“Killing people in the name of Gau Bhakti is not acceptable,” he said, stressing, “No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands in this country.” While saying that protecting cows, sacred for Hindus, is needed – “No one spoke about protecting cows more than Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave,” he said, “this (violence) is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve of.”

Between 2011 and 2014, the Gujarat government headed by Modi had disbursed Rs. 75 lakh in cash rewards to 1,394 vigilantes for raiding illegal cattle transporters and filing FIRs against them, the website of the government-run Gauseva and Gauchar Vikas Board (GGVB) states.

“No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands in this country,” Modi said.

“We are a land of non violence. We are the land of Mahatma Gandhi. Why do we forget that…As a society, there is no place for violence. Violence never has and never will solve any problem,” Modi said.

In the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi also denounced the ‘pink revolution’ (beef exports).

The GGVB was set up under the animal husbandry department in 1999, but remained defunct for almost a decade before Modi revived it in 2010. To make it proactive, his government introduced a slew of schemes, including a cash reward of Rs. 500 for every FIR registered against cattle smugglers and transporters. There was even a biennial Best Cow Protector award worth Rs. 25,000.

“Let’s all work together. Let’s create the India of Mahatma Gandhi’s dreams. Let’s create an India our freedom fighters would be proud of,” he added.

The opposition said that the PM’s words are welcome, but the onus is on his government to ensure they result in action.
A series of steps taken by the centre and its state governments – like the introduction of new rules that restrict the sale of cattle for slaughter and the crackdown on abattoirs in Uttar Pradesh – is being seen as targeting Muslims, who dominate the meat trade.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said earlier this week that the death of Junaid Khan was “extremely shameful and painful” and that such attacks would not be tolerated.

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