Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah said the state governments run by the party will bring people who commit violence in the name of the cow under control.
“Trust us, we will bring this under control very soon,” Shah said in an interview with India Today television.
“We are not taking this lightly. It is the responsibility of our party that this has to be ended, it has to be finished off with firmness,” the BJP President said, adding that not just cow violence, all forms of vigilante efforts will be crushed with firmness.
You can see the interview below.
Nearly all cow-related violence has been reported from states where the government is under the control of the BJP, such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Several people, mostly truck drivers and others involved in the leather or meat business, have been seriously hurt or killed by self-styled ‘cow protectors’.
While the Hindi-speaking regions of India have traditionally worshipped the animal for agricultural reasons, incidents of violence in the name of the animal started only in the last two years.
It is believed that vigilante groups were emboldened by the coming to power of Narendra Modi, who is seen as a no-compromise Hindu ruler by certain sections of his admirers, and these gangs believe that the government will not crack down on them.
The first wave of such incidents were brought under control after Modi himself stepped in said “70-80%” of the so-called ‘cow protectors’ were anti-social elements, and urged the state governments to crack down hard.
However, a second wave of such incidents have started in the last few weeks after the BJP scored an emphatic win in state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
The nomination of Yogi Adityanath, a hardline ‘Hindu’ leader as the chief minister, further emboldened right wing groups to attack those who are engaged in dealing with cows as part of their livelihoods.
Even the leadership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, whose ideological founder had warned against worshipping the cow, recently urged the central government to explore the possibility of a national cow protection bill.
It is believed that the BJP’s expansion and growth could be severely curtailed in areas outside the Hindi-speaking belt if the issue of cow protection gets further play, and the Modi-Shah duo is expected to do everything to bring fringe elements under control.
https://youtu.be/BtYsIznuY54?t=1196