“There are a lot of things to eat in this country apart from cows,” Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said while stressing that it was the “duty” of state governments to ban cow slaughter. She said, “Such things should not happen. If you are asking for respect from us, then you should also learn to respect us first. In a democracy it is the duty of the state governments to ban cow slaughter.”
Jyoti said that the Dadri lynching was a case of law and order failure on the part of the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh. “This incident should not have happened. It is a law and order problem, which is a state subject. If the state had taken action, then such situation wouldn’t have happened. Instead of taking action, they are blaming us,” she said.
Jyoti also alleged that the issue of alleged intolerance was raised as a pre-planned move to malign BJP ahead of Bihar polls. “Intolerance is an issue that was created with political motive to malign us ahead of the Bihar poll. It was pre-planned and that is why you can’t see any protest after the results are out,” Jyoti told PTI. “It is the 5-10 per cent neutral votes that made the difference in Bihar. After coming to power at the Centre, we have won several states. I give my best wishes to Nitish Kumarji,” Jyoti said.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)