Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has achieved a new milestone. She has penned a whole letter and addressed it to Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath without even verifying the authenticity of the bit of information she was outraging about. In the letter, she said that she was distressed by the images of the corpses of cows circulating on social media.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said in the letter that the pictures of the dead cows came from Lalitpur. She admitted that she did not know how the cows had died but concluded that they appeared to have died from starvation.
उत्तर प्रदेश से आई मृत गायों की तस्वीरों को देखकर विचलित होकर मैं यह पत्र माननीय मुख्यमंत्री, यूपी सरकार को लिख रही हूं। प्रदेश की कई गौशालाओं में यही स्थिति है।
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) December 21, 2020
इस समस्या को सुलझाने के मॉडल मौजूद हैं। गौमाता की देखभाल के घोषणाओं के साथ साथ योजनाओं को अमलीजामा पहनाना जरूरी है। pic.twitter.com/XRa0xsoQKW
As it turns out, the news was fake and such a thing, fortunately, never came to pass. The official fact-checking handle of IPRD, Uttar Pradesh, tweeted that the Chief Veterinary Officer at the Gaushala in Lalitpur has said that no corpses have been found either inside the Gaushala, or outside it, or anywhere in the vicinity.
सोशल मीडिया में महरौनी, ललितपुर स्थित गो-आश्रय स्थल पर पशुओं की मौत होने का दावा किया है। #InfoUPFactCheck: यह दावा गलत है। चीफ वेटरनरी ऑफिसर (CVO) ललितपुर ने बताया कि गौशाला के अंदर, बाहर या आसपास कोई भी मृत गो-वंश नहीं पाया गया। pic.twitter.com/e0JYM6xH7w
— Info Uttar Pradesh Fact Check (@InfoUPFactCheck) December 19, 2020
It appears that with UP Assembly Elections on the horizon, the Congress party has suddenly discovered its love and concern for cows. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is being touted as a potential Chief Ministerial candidate from the Congress party, was so eager to demonstrate her love for the cow that she fell for fake news.
It is akin to the manner in which her brother Rahul Gandhi can be found engaging in a Temple Run exercise ahead of every major election. Shalabh Mani Tripathi, adviser to CM Yogi Adityanath, was quick to point out the Congress party’s hypocrisy when it comes to cow protection.
बीच सड़क गर्व से खुलेआम गाय काटने वाले भी जब गोवंश पर चिंता दिखाने लगे तो समझो मोदी-योगी की टीम ने राम राज्य ला दिया,वैसे हर बार की तरह फिर आपने झूठी तस्वीरों और खबरों का ही सहारा लिया,आप वही हैं ना जिन्होंने गोहत्सारों के खिलाफ योगीजी के कड़े क़ानून का सबसे ज्सादा विरोध किया। https://t.co/RZzUfbj8pA pic.twitter.com/vwmrD7nV61
— Shalabh Mani Tripathi (@shalabhmani) December 21, 2020
Tripathi was referring to the incident in Kerala when Congress party workers slaughtered a calf in the middle of the road in full public view and then cooked it and ate it. The ghastly incident, which occurred in 2017, had provoked widespread outrage due to the brutality of it. More than three years later, the Congress party appears to have decided to feign concern for cow welfare in light of the Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2022.