Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that even the Mughals understood that if they had to rule India, they could not support cow slaughter openly, which was a fact that the Britishers failed to understand during their rule. Protecting cows was a way to rule the hearts of the people of India, he said. Addressing a seminar on cow conservation, organised by the Rashtriya Godhan Mahasangh along with Union Agricultural Ministry, Singh said: “The Mughals understood this. Babur had written in his testament that to rule the hearts of Indians, cow slaughter cannot be supported. The British failed to understand this and, as you know, the first battle for Independence in 1857 also happened because of the use of cow-fat in bullet cartridges.” [related-post] He said we need to focus on organic farming and that conservation of cows will play an important role. “Of course we all know that cow dung makes the best fertiliser. cow urine is the best antibiotic,” he said. Rajnath also said that his trip to the Bangladesh border soon after taking charge as Union Home Minister last year was, in fact, to address the problem of cattle smuggling to Bangladesh. “I told the BSF that this was an important concern. Today that problem has lessened considerably. Bangladesh high commission officials told me that ever since cattle smuggling through the border has been checked, the cost of beef has shot up drastically in Bangladesh,” he said, to a huge round of applause. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar informed the gathering that the NDA government not only supported a ban on cow slaughter and beef, it was also firming up a plan to help save cows that are past their age of milk productivity by giving their owners free fodder. “We are preparing a scheme of growing grasslands under MNREGA so that cows can graze for free and farmer does not have to incur costs to maintain aged cows,” Javadekar said. He said that the next Budget will see an increase in outlay for goshalas (where old cows are kept till they die) so that farmers don’t have to sell cows to slaughterhouses. “Farmers love cows, but expenses incurred to feed her when she stops producing milk is a concern. Hence, we are thinking upon how jungles around villages can be utilised in this regard,” he said. Apart from the two Union ministers, former Karnataka chief minister and BJP MP B S Yeddyurappa, Haryana’s agriculture minister and various cow-conservation organisations affiliated to the Sangh Parivar were in attendance.
