Cow is cool in Cow Belt, Digvijay goes the whole hog

The seminar was organised by the Love 4 Cow Trust — its motto: ‘aao gai se pyaar karen — and was funded partly by the state government. Singh said how his government had set up a Gausewa Ayog which ‘‘others should have done.’’ ‘‘People who play politics in the name of gau mata did not do so, we did it,’’ he said.

But speakers preceding him had tried hard to establish the chief minister’s love for cow. Minister for Animal Husbandry Shiv Narayan Meena revealed that Digvijay partakes of gau mutra and went on to suggest that urban intellectuals would be better off keeping cows rather than setting off in the morning to walk their dogs. Chairman of the Gausewa Ayog Mahendra Bam spelt out how under Digvijay ‘‘cow slaughter had been banned. This has resulted in the state being one of the few places where the cattle population is increasing. In 1999 the state had 80 gaushalas. Now the number is 550, the number of cattle in these is up from 8,500 to 1.79 lakh.’’ Bam wound up his speech with slogans of ‘Jai gaumata ki jai’.

As experts at the ‘International Seminar on Cow and Bio-diversity’ and the Member of the Planning Commission, Som Pal, dwelt on how cross-breeding with imported high-yield varieties was threatening the diversity of India’s own indigenous species, Digvijay revealed that his own knowledge of the cow and its by-products.

‘‘The cow has its own importance for the country. It is different from any animal and we see it as our mata. Which other animal is of use for its milk, urine and dung? There are some qualities which set the cow apart. When it is realised that only the urine of our native cattle has the necessary medicinal properties, it compels even a rational thinker,’’ he said.

‘‘This state has initiated a lot of research on cow urine and it now sells for Rs 4 to 5 per litre. A pesticide of gau mutra along with neem has yielded good results. A scientist from New Zealand has told me how he, on the basis of Indian scriptures, has established that cow horns filled with cow dung and buried on a certain specified date and then taken out on another specified date serve to fertilise one whole acre without need of any other fertisliser,’’ the chief minister added.

Later, he came back to politics: ‘‘We have reached the stage where dry dairy farming, through the use of non-milch products such as dung and urine, is economically viable and there are no grounds for cow slaughter. Look at Babar’s wasiyat to Humayun, it is at the national archives, where he tells his son that to rule India he must stop cowslaughter for the cow is a mother to the Hindus. And people say he demolished a temple to build a masjid. In fact the Quereshi samaj in Bhopal and Indore have called me for functions and pledged on the Koran not to indulge in cow slaughter.’’

Cow politics has already become a major issue in the state. Flagging off the Bhartiya Yuva Janta Morcha rally in Ujjain on January 12, Uma Bharti had defined Bhartiyata as Hindutva, which she had said was the ‘‘four Vedas, gaumata, ganagmata and gitamata.’’

On the same day, speaking 100 km from Ujjain, Digvijay had pitched in with his crdentials as a gaubhakt. Just a couple of days later, arson and loot took place in Ganjbasoda after an incident of cowslaughter was reported.

Ever since then, the BJP has been attacking Digvijay’s record on cow protection. So while vice-patron of the Love 4 Cow Trust S.C. Tripathi, former director general of police, revealed that the invitation to Singh was extended well before recent political occurrences, Digvijay ensured that he was not one to let an opportunity slip.