BHOPAL: Forget about ruling BJP espousing the cause of cow. It's now the turn of opposition Congress to turn into Gau Rakshak (cow savior) in assembly poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
With assembly polls just two and half months away in the central Indian state, the MP Congress chief Kamal Nath has promised to build Gaushala (cowshed) in every village panchayat of the state, if the party was voted to power after a yawning gap of 15 years.
The former union minister and nine-time sitting Lok Sabha member from Chhindwara constituency of MP made the announcement at a public meeting in Ganjbasoda town of Vidisha district recently and later tweeted "Pradesh ki har pachayat mein Gaushala banayenge, ye ghoshna nahi vachan hai (we'll build a cowshed in every village panchayat, it's not merely an announcement, but a fervent pledge)."The State Congress media in-charge Shobha Oza confirmed to The New Indian Express the development on Wednesday.
"For the BJP, cow is a tool to garner votes, but for the Congress, it's a matter of faith. Hundreds of cows of dying in the state every day, be it on roads or existing cowsheds. Money being sanctioned by the state government for upkeep of the existing cowsheds is being guzzled by the BJP people."She added that Congress will stick to its pledge of building cowshed in each village panchayat once it comes to power in the state.
"Our aim is to save the cows as well as generate productive employment in villages for jobless youths."The principal opposition party of the state has been proactively raising the issue of cows ahead of polls in the state. Recently, former Lok Sabha member and presently a legislator from Rewa district Sunderlal Tiwari had raised the matter of carcass of six stray cows having been buried in the Rewa Municipal Corporation (RMC) premises close to a Ram-Janaki Temple.
The protest by Congress workers had led to the exhuming of the carcasses from the RMC premises on August 12.
Added the State Congress spokesperson Oza, "In the past our veteran legislator Ariq Aqeel had moved a private member bill in the Vidhan Sabha, demanding proper burial/funeral of cows to be funded by government as the cows are most revered animal. However, the legislators of the same BJP, which enduringly swears by the cause of Gau Mata had ensured that bill was rejected by 55-130 votes,"