JAIPUR : Rajasthan’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal had the Assembly in an uproar on Tuesday when he ‘quoted’ RSS icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar to claim that “the cow may be useful but not worthy of worship”, inviting a BJP censure. Participating in a debate on cow worship, Dhariwal said, “The cow is a beneficial animal but there is no sense in worshiping it. Superhumans are worshipped, but worshiping animals is useless.”
He said statements like ‘you have to be a Hindu to stay in India’ lead to differences.
The BJP condemned Dhariwal’s statement, alleging that he had deliberately misinterpreted what Savarkar had said and disrespected the Hindus by terming the cow as an ‘animal’. The BJP also alleged a Congress vendetta. “Cow, who we call our mother and is worshipped by crores of people, has been labeled an animal. This has pained the Hindus and we condemn this thought”, said former Education Minister Vasudev Devnani.
“If Dhariwal had just read the book he would have understood the context. In wars, when Muslims were unable to fight, they would just put a cow in front and that would stop the fight. It was this context that Savarkar had raised. Misquoting him is an affront to Hindu sentiment,” he added.
Dhariwal also attacked the RSS on its definition of Hindutva and added that “The definition of Hindutva given by Savarkar was changed by Mohan Bhagwat.” Devnani said, “There has been no change in the concept. Those who consider this country their motherland are Hindus and will always be.”