Rahul calls Kerala cow incident ‘barbaric’
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi “strongly condemned” the public cow slaughter by Youth Congress activists in Kerala, distancing himself and the party from the “barbaric act” that has sparked nationwide controversies.
“What happened in Kerala yesterday is thoughtless, barbaric & completely unacceptable to me & the Congress Party. I strongly condemn the incident,” Gandhi tweeted on Sunday evening.
Gandhi’s strong reaction makes it clear that even though the Congress and other opposition parties had been fierce critics of the NDA government at the Centre over cow vigilantism and violence of gau rakshaks, the Sonia Gandh-led party will not endorse such an act.
Kerala chief minister Pinarai Vijayan had slammed the Centre for the ban on sale of cattle for slaughter at animal markets. He on Sunday said the people in his state do not need a lesson on food habits from New Delhi or Nagpur.
Though Kerala is one of the few states where cow slaughter is not banned, animal lovers said “such brazen acts” glorify cruelty towards animals and demanded action against Youth Congress activists. The BJP’s Meghalaya unit said on Sunday that the ban on sale of cattle for slaughter at animal markets will curb its smuggling to Bangladesh.
“There is a massive cattle smuggling racket in the state which has skyrocketed the price of beef,” state BJP president Shibun Lyngdoh said.
Meanwhile, the media unit of the party has also petitioned BJP leader Nalin Kohli to allay fears of the indigenous tribals who solely depend on beef as their source of dietary protein. IANS