Togadia locks horns with PM on <I>gau rakshak</I> issue

He also asked the Home Ministry to withdraw its advisory to state govts to take action against them

Vishva Hindu Parishad chief Pravin Togadia on Saturday locked horns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his comments that 80 per cent ‘gau rakshaks’, or cow protectors, are involved in criminal activities.

Describing himself as gau rakshak number one, Togadia demanded that the PM retract his statement and also ask the home ministry to withdraw its advisory to state governments to take action against them.

Togadia accused the PM of favouring “cow butchers”, since the advisory is only to punish ‘cow protectors and not butchers, and that such “anti-Hindu” policies weren’t pursued even during the British Raj. He demanded that the government enact a national law on cow protection and call a joint session of Parliament to overcome its lack of majority in the Rajya Sabha. Claiming that beef exports have increased 44 per cent during the tenure of the Modi government and reminding the PM of his promise of putting an end to this ‘pink revolution’, Togadia demanded a complete ban on such exports. He asked the PM to start a round-the-clock cow helpline under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office and also take steps to stop smuggling of cows on the Indo-Bangladesh border. He reminded the PM that gau rakshaks had worked to ensure his victory in the Lok Sabha polls.  

The PM, first at his MyGov Town Hall in New Delhi on August 6 and then again at a rally in Hyderabad, had said that he felt “immense anger” at anti-social elements donning the garb of gau rakshaks to conceal their criminal activities.

Following which, the home minister had issued an advisory to alls states to rein in gau rakshaks.

Togadia, who chose to describe himself as Modi’s “childhood friend”, has had a turbulent equation with him ever since the PM’s days as the chief minister of Gujarat. Togadia had to flee Gujarat when he had attempted to protest the demolition of over 800 illegal roadside temples in Ahmedabad in 2008.

On the face of it, Togadia upping the ante on the issue could cause the Bharatiya Janata Party difficulties just as it has tried to reach out to dalits, particularly after atrocities on the community in several parts of the country, including in Modi and Togadia’s home state of Gujarat.

However, Togadia disapproved of attacks on dalits. Togadia termed the linking of atrocities on dalits and cow protection “a planted mischief and conspiracy” to divide the Hindu society, but was silent on questions about who he thought might be behind such conspiracies. Much of his attack focused on how Modi’s statements would embolden butchers, who are mostly Muslims.

Addressing a well attended press conference here, Togadia evaded questions on whether the PM’s statement on gau rakshaks was made with an eye on Uttar Pradesh assembly polls that are due by early 2017.

Togadia asked why the PM didn’t have dialogue with gau rakshaks. “When he can visit Pakistan to have lunch with its prime minister and is also willing to open a dialogue with the people of Kashmir who have carried out violent attacks on the Indian Army,” Togadia said.

Togadia demanded that the PM make public the data that led him to state 80 per cent cow protectors are criminals, and also that most cows die of eating plastic than slaughter.