Cow is like mother, but this should not let people take law in their hands: Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked all states to take stringent action against those violating the law in the name of cow protection, but cautioned against giving political or communal colour to the issue.
His remarks at an all-party meeting came a day before the start of Parliament's monsoon session, which is likely to be stormy with the Opposition set to raise contentious issues, including a recent wave of attacks on people accused of eating beef or slaughtering cows.
The PM also underlined the belief of many Hindus that cow is like mother, but said that this should not let people take law in their hands, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said.
He quoted the PM as saying that there is an attempt to give communal colour to cow vigilantism cases and derive political mileage out of them.
Opposition leaders who attended the meeting with the PM were Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad, NCP's Sharad Pawar, CPM's Sitaram Yechury, SP's Mulayam Singh Yadav and CPI's D Raja. However, no one from JD (U) or TMC was present. TMC had announced to boycott the meeting, amid recriminations between it and the BJP over recent violence in West Bengal.
Sunday's is the latest in a series of statements that the PM has made against 'gau-rakshaks', amid protests over cases of cow vigilantism and mob frenzy.
Last month, he said in Gujarat that killing people in the name of 'gau bhakti' was not acceptable, a remark that came amid outrage over a 16-year-old's lynching on a running train by a mob that called him a "beef-eater".
President Pranab Mukherjee followed the PM early this month and said that when mob frenzy becomes so high, irrational and uncontrollable, "we have to pause and reflect".
The PM had used his first-ever townhall in August last year to deliver a lacerating statement, saying "most of these people are anti-social elements hiding behind the mask of gau rakshaks".
"I get so angry at those who are into the gau-rakshak business. A gau-bhakt is different, gau-seva is different. I have seen that some people are into crimes all night and wear the garb of gau-rakshaks in the day," PM Modi had said, answering a question at the interactive session to mark two years of his MyGov initiative.
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