While countering the allegations by the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to use “cow politics” to influence the communal harmony in the State, the Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] has acknowledged that there indeed is “a cow survey" going on in Bengal. Acknowledging the existence of such a survey, the State president of BJP, Dilip Ghosh, has blamed the Trinamool Congress [TMC] cadres for the survey. In a public rally on Thursday Ms Banerjee had said that she will not tolerate the politics of polarisation in the State using ‘cow surveys’. While she did not name any political party, BJP convened a press conference on Friday to counter Ms Banerjee's allegations.
“This is correct that some people are moving from house to house to count cows,” Mr Ghosh said on Friday, acknowledging that a cow survey - as alleged by the Chief Minister - is going on in the State. However he also blamed TMC for the survey.
“The cow [as] resource is part of our life and well respected in India. But the cows are going in large numbers to Bangladesh....[and] the brothers of Didi [Mamata Banerjee] are counting the number of vehicles carrying those cows [to Bangladesh],” Mr Ghosh said and further alleged that the TMC cadres are making money out of cattle smuggling.
“They [TMC cadres] are diligently calculating the amount. The money is exchanging hands before the cows are dispatched. But recently some problem occurred and thus the Food Minister was targeted. We are demanding investigation of the incident,” said Mr Ghosh.
The State’s Food Minister and senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Jyotipriyo Mullick had alleged earlier in the week that he was being targeted by cow smugglers who recently tried to mow him down with a car. Mr. Mullick further alleged that cow smugglers were “targeting him” in the wake of the State Government’s crack down on cattle smuggling in North 24 Parganas.
Targetting Ms Banerjee on her comments related to atrocities committed against Dalits in Gujarat, the BJP president said that Ms Banerjee is opting for a “double standards” in the State.
“She is immensely sympathetic [towards the Dalits of Gujarat] but in Bengal’s Nadia district three persons from Scheduled Caste background, from the same family, were lynched but no body mentioned their name. No one was punished.”
“But they all start to weep if anything occurs in Gujarat. Do they need to establish all forms of secularism in Gujarat only,” asked Mr Ghosh. He also claimed that Ms Banerjee is panicky due to the rise of BJP in the State.
“Trinamool cadres are making money out of cattle smuggling”
