Netaji’s grandnephew lock horns with Tripura governor over Hindus eating mutton, says goat is also ‘mother’

The vice president of BJP's West Bengal unit cited Mahatma Gandhi and his food habits to drive home his point, that Hindus should stop eating goat meat since the father of the nation considered it as "mother".

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: July 31, 2018 8:46:12 pm
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Amidst the ongoing debate over lynching over cow and consumption of beef in the country, Netaji’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose stirred a hornet’s nest with his controversial tweet. Bose engaged in a war of words with Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy on whether the goats, like cows, should be considered as “mothers” by the Hindus. The vice president of BJP’s West Bengal unit cited Mahatma Gandhi and his food habits to drive home his point, that Hindus should stop eating goat meat since the father of the nation considered it as “mother”.

Bose said that Mahatma Gandhi used to consume goat’s milk when he was staying at his grandfather – Sarat Chandra Bose’s house in Kolkata.

“Gandhi ji used to stay in my grandfather-Sarat Chandra Bose’s house at 1 Woodburn Park in Kolkata. He demanded goat’s milk! Two goats brought to the house for this purpose. Gandhi protector of Hindus treated goats as Mata by consuming goats milk. Hindus stop eating goat’s meat (sic),” Bose tweeted.

Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy responded in negative, saying that neither Gandhiji nor Netaji revered goats as mothers.

“Neither Gandhiji nor your grandfather ever said goats were Mata-that’s your conclusion. Nor did Gandhiji (or anyone else) ever proclaim that he was the protector of Hindus. We Hindus regard the cow as our mother, not the goat. Please don’t peddle such rot,” Roy said in a tweet on June 26, a day after Bose’s tweet.

However, Bose defended his view saying that he used Gandhiji’s reference as a metaphor. “One must realise the subtlety and metaphorical meaning of my tweet. My message to the political fraternity don’t mix up religion with politics. We must protect animals but not at the cost of humans (sic),” he said.

This made it clear that Bose was referring to the recent incidents of lynching incidents where some people were killed on suspicion of cow smuggling.

In another tweet on Monday, Bose said that people must not be told what to eat. He drew a parallel between beef and goat meat.

“It’s time to put things in the right perspective! Stop telling people what they should eat. If you don’t allow people to eat beef- stop eating goat’s meat. Don’t mix-up religion with politics. Politics has nothing to do with any religion,” he tweeted yesterday.

On Tuesday, the West Bengal BJP Vice President explained why he considered goat a sacred animal. “I tried to use it as a reference. In many parts of the country, goats were sacrificed during worship of Goddess Kali. If the goat is not a sacred animal then why was it used during worship of Kali. By that logic we should not consume goat,” he told PTI today.

Meanwhile, the state BJP unit declined to comment on the matter.

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