PM Narendra Modi an all-party meeting ahead of monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Sunday. PTI Photo
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that strict action will be taken against ‘cow vigilantes’ indulging in violence, news agency PTI reported. Speaking at an all-party meeting ahead of the Parliament monsoon session, the Prime Minister said, “I have asked states to take strict action against those violating law in name of cow protection.”
PM Modi went on to say that the the country does not gain from the violence in the name of cow protection and urged everyone to not to take law into their hands. “It (cow vigilantism) should not be given political or communal colour; the nation doesn’t benefit from it. There is a widespread belief that cow is like mother but this should not let people take law in their own hands,” PM Modi said.
Prime minister Narendra modi with Farooq Abdulah after meeting with all party ledaers in both house of parliament at the parliament in new Delhi on Sunday Express photo by Prem nath Pandey 16 july 17
Union Minister Ananth Kumar, after the all-party meet, also iterated PM Modi’s statements and said those committing violence will face severe prosecution. “Those committing violence in the name of cow protection will face severe prosecution,” Kumar said, according to news agency ANI. Kumar went on to add that PM Modi expressed concern about the flood situation in North-east India in the meet. “PM Modi said that he has started a war against corruption and he called all-party meet for the same reason,” Kumar added.
Modi also thanked everyone for the implementation of the GST, calling it a “shining example of co-operative federalism”. He told the all-party meeting that 30 per cent of total expenditure and 49 per cent of spending in the infrastructure sector had already taken place before the monsoon started due to the advancement of the budget.
Farooq Abdulah Sharad pawar and D raja after meeting with all party ledaers in both house of parliament at the parliament in new Delhi on Sunday Express photo by Prem nath Pandey 16 july 17
On the issue of Kashmir and tensions with China, Kumar said the government had a meeting with opposition leaders and every party has said they were with the government on matters of national security. Among those opposition leaders who attended the meeting were Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) and D Raja (CPI).
However, no one from the JD(U) or the Trinamool Congress were present. TMC has already announced it would boycott this meeting amidst recriminations between it and the BJP over the recent violence in West Bengal.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Police on Sunday claimed that the man who was thrashed allegedly by cow vigilantes in Nagpur earlier this week, was carrying beef. The forensic lab report was “positive”, i.e. it was beef, Superintendent of Police (Nagpur rural) Shailesh Balkawde told PTI. Officials further said that they will probe the matter further.
Last month, PM Modi, in a speech at Sabarmati Ashram, had said that killing in the name of cow is unacceptable in “Mahatma Gandhi’s India”. His remarks had come after protests raged across the country against the mob lynching of a 15-year-old boy, Junaid, who was stabbed on a train in Haryana. “Killing people in the name of gau bhakti is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve,” PM Modi had said.
