NEW DELHI: Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Radha Mohan Singh were embarrassed at a national conference on gaushalas organised by the Centre on Monday when some participants shouted slogans against the government and interrupted their speeches for “failing to take measures to protect cows”.
The conference, which had in attendance representatives of NGOs, Hindu organisations and gaushala owners from across the country, saw participants raising issues ranging from the speakers talking in English to the use of picture of an imported cow (jersey) in place of the indigenous cow which was there on the kits provided to them.
Agriculture Minister Singh has to face the ire of the crowd as he said that the government had issued funds for the maintenance of gaushalas to all States. Participants from Rajasthan stood up and started shouting slogans that he was lying and that they hadn’t received any money.
“The BJP in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha election had talked about protecting cows and checking cow slaughtering but in last two years nothing has happened. In fact grazing land for cow has been taken over by the government for construction works,” said Satyanarayan Bhadariya, who runs a gaushala in Ajmer.
Environment Minister Javadekar also has to stop his speech mid-way as som in the audience claimed that the NDA government had failed to check cow trafficking and slaughtering. Most of them asked why the government couldn’t bring a bill banning cow slaughter in the country.
Javadekar had to spend few minutes to pacify the crowd saying that the conference was meant to find solutions to these issues and that the Centre and his ministry would go through the recommendations made at the day-long meeting.