Can't bear violence in garb of cow protection: Raghubar Das

KOLKATA: Amid the raging debate over so-called cow vigilantism, Raghubar Das, chief minister of Jharkhand said the ‘cattle-smugglers are attacking people in the garb ‘Gau-Rakshaks’ to ‘sabotage’ the cow protection movement of Bharatiya Janata Party.

Supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments on “Gaurakshaks”, he added that ‘Gau-Maata’ needs to be protected, but the people indulging in violence in the name of ‘cow-protection’ should be brought to book.

In a free-wheeling chat with ET, Das, who was in Kolkata to take part in an investment drive, said his government is taking all possible steps to protect cows.

“We have issued a notification to all police stations. If a cow is smuggled from the state, the officer in charge of the concerned police station has to face action. We are still 35 % short in milk production. Cows are smuggled to Bangladesh via Malda from our state. We have increased vigil,” said Das.

“Some political parties and their frontal organisations are unnecessarily adding political colour to it. Saving a cow has nothing to do with politics. The children of Hindus and Muslims need to have milk every day and for that, we need to protect cow. Similarly, we cannot tolerate hooliganism in name of cow protection. Prime Minister has said the right thing in this regard,” he said.

Speaking on BJP’s progress in the Eastern India, he said that BJP has already got foothold in the eastern parts with Jharkhand and Assam. Adding, Bengal would also be included in the list of Bharatiya Janata Party-run states soon, he said, “I visited Singur and some other places for election campaign here. I have seen people looking for an alternative.

But, people need a face. The organisation needs to be strengthened in Bengal and party has already brought a leader, who is a man of huge organisational capability.

I am aware that they are trying to spread BJP’s network to the grassroots level in the state and we will soon see BJP holding a significant space in Bengal.”