After beef policing, Gau Seva Ayog wants ‘Cow University’ in Haryana

Haryana government's Gau Seva Ayog has proposed a 'cow university' to conduct exhaustive research on cow's milk, urine and dung.

Chandigarh, Sep 19: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Haryana that recently faced criticism for beef policing ahead of Bakra Eid festival, has received a proposal of establishing a ‘cow university’ in the state. Haryana government’s Gau Seva Ayog has proposed a ‘cow university’ to conduct exhaustive research on cow’s milk, urine and dung. Haryana Gau Seva Ayog chairman Bhani Ram Mangla will meet Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and seek 500 acres of land for the proposed cow university.

Gau Seva Ayog chairman Bhani Ram Mangla thinks opening the cow university in Haryana will boost the production of cow milk and create job opportunities for unemployed youth. “We will look for a village panchayat willing to offer land for the cow university. We want to conduct research on urine and dung of the cow,” Mangla was quoted as saying by the Times of India. Mangla also said that the cow university should be offering diploma courses on cow. (ALSO READ: ‘Beat them up, but don’t break their bones’, VHP advises ‘gau-rakshaks’)

Bhani Ram Mangla had recently visited Gandhinagar in Gujarat, to study the functioning of its Kamdhenu University. The Kamdhenu University was established by the then Narendra Modi-headed BJP state government in 2009 for research in veterinary and animal sciences, including dairies and fisheries. At a time when activists of self-styled cow protection groups, known as gau rakshaks have been targeting Muslims and Dalits in various parts of the country, including Haryana, Gau Seva Ayog is passing bizzire directives in the name of cow protection.

Ahead of Bakra Eid, the Gau Seva Ayog had ordered police to pick up samples of biryani from vendors in Muslim-dominated Mewat to check whether cow meat was used to make it. After facing flak from locals, activists and opposition parties, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar order to shun the beef policing. The cow vigilantes have become more active since the BJP came to power at the Centre and in different states. Recently, the gau rakshaks assaulted three persons, including a madrasa teacher, in Kanjhawla area of outer Delhi.

After massive protest by Dalits over flogging of community youth by cow-protection group members, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked state governments to probe the fake “gau rakshaks (cow protectors)” and take strong action against them, saying they were destroying the country. The RSS also asked people to “expose” a handful of anti-social elements spreading violence and trying to disturb social harmony in the name of cow protection, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused them of creating “tension and conflict” in the society. It asked people not to link such “condemnable efforts” of “a few opportunists” with those truly serving and protecting cows.