VHP to urge PM, CM for separate cow ministry

The issue of cow protection has always been dear to us. Now, we expect a dedicated ministry to support and boost an entire cowfriendly ecosystem SHARAD SHARMA, VHP spokesman

LUCKNOW: The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) will petition Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath on the need to set up a dedicated cow welfare ministry at the centre and in the states.

The saints associated with the VHP may take up the issue during a meeting likely to be convened by the Vishva Hindu Parishad soon, office bearers of the Hindu organisation told Hindustan Times.

While the demand for cow protection isn’t new for the Vishva Hindu Parishad, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate, the push for a cow ministry is timed with BJP national president Amit Shah indicating in Lucknow that a cow ministry was among the several proposals under discussion.

Concluding his three-day visit to the state capital last week, Shah was asked if the Modi government had any plans to set up a cow ministry, a demand that had been regularly flagged by saints in the three years since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power at the centre.

“Various suggestions have come. Discussions are on,” Shah had said during the end of his press meet to spark speculation.

Now, the Vishva Hindu Parishad has decided to push the issue through its Bharatiya Govansh Rakshan Samvardhan Parishad (BGRSP) as well as saints.

“The issue of cow protection has always been dear to us. Now, we expect a dedicated ministry to support and boost an entire cowfriendly ecosystem,” said the Vishva Hindu Parishad’s Ayodhya-based spokesman Sharad Sharma.

Ironically, in 2016, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had disbanded its ‘Gau Vansh Vikas Prakosth’ that was set up originally to help create awareness among people about the importance of cows.

For the last couple of years, several cases of mob lynching against cow slaughter have come to light and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly warned cow vigilante groups against taking the law in their hands.