Digvijay, BJP cry holy cow prior to polls

With Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and BJP state unit chief Kailash Joshi once more raising the decibel level over cow slaughter in the stat...

With Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and BJP state unit chief Kailash Joshi once more raising the decibel level over cow slaughter in the state, an outsider stepping into Madhya Pradesh may well be excused for thinking that cattle is the only issue at stake for the coming elections.

The latest war of words began three days ago at a rally in Ganj Basoda, the town which had witnessed incidents of arson and loot following reports of cow slaughter a fortnight ago. BJP MP Prahlad Patel was quoted here as saying that Digvijay’s forefathers were members of the Hindu Mahasabha but the CM should get his DNA checked after the kind of language he has used over the Ganj Basoda riots.

Stand not ‘soft Hindutva’ at all, asserts CM
New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh today said that his stand on cow slaughter was not ‘soft Hindutva’, being adopted in view of Assembly elections in the state towards the end of this year.
Speaking to journalists in the Capital today, Singh maintained that a ban on cow slaughter exists in MP. On the party policy on cow slaughter, Singh said the matter had been left to the states as the subject came under the State List. On the BJP’s projection of Uma Bharati as a chief ministerial candidate in Madhya Pradesh, Singh said, ‘‘Internal problems within BJP will be much more acute as there are others in the race for the post’’. Asked if Uma Bharati’s brother was joining Congress, Singh said he was not aware of it. —ENS

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Digvijay got back at the BJP the very next day by sending a missive to the Prime Minister, demanding an immediate ban on cow slaughter throughout the country. The letter also carried figures of beef exports from India from 1997 to 2001.

An earlier press release issued by state Congress chief Radhakishan Malviya had used the same statistics to claim that the numbers show that the Centre was not serious about banning cow slaughter.

And Congress Minister in-Charge of Vidisha district, Vir Singh Raghuvanshi, claimed that the BJP’s attemps to come to power using ‘‘mother cow’’ shows that the leaders have lost their ‘‘mental balance’’.

Today, Kailash Joshi charged the state government with being unable to enforce the current provisions governing ban on cow slaughter. ‘‘Instead of asking the Centre to impose a ban on cow slaughter, the CM should enforce laws banning cow slaughter,’’ he said at a press conference.

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‘‘State laws provide that any person who slaughters a cow could be imprisoned for three years but no one has got this punishment till now,’’ he added. He said there is proof that cattle are being transpoted to and from the state to slaughter houses with the government turning a blind eye.

The CM, on the other hand, asserted today that a ban on cow slaughter already exists in the state and the timing of his demand had nothing to do with the elections.

Rajnath Singh warned Pakistan that every inch of its land is within BrahMos’ range as India rolled out its first missiles from Lucknow.

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Rajnath Singh warns Pakistan about the reach of the BrahMos missile, praises ‘Operation Sindoor’ and the missile’s technological superiority. He and CM Yogi Adityanath flag off the first batch of BrahMos missiles made in Lucknow, emphasizing their economic impact and thanking Adityanath for his support.

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