MUMBAI: Two days after her statement that petting a cow drives away negativity in humans raised eyebrows, Maharashtra minister Yashomati Thakur on Monday said she had just voiced common feelings of farmers towards their cattle.
A controversy erupted on Saturday when Thakur, a Congress MLA from Amravati district, evoked Indian culture and said that all negativity goes away when one touches a cow.
She defended her statement on Sunday, saying that touching any animal, including cows, feels one with compassion.
"I had gone to a village in my assembly constituency (Teosa) to meet people where a cow temple already exists. While talking to people, I simply resonated their feelings towards the pet animal.
"Even I come from a farmer' family, and like me, many people feel better by petting the animal," the Women and Child Development Minister said in an official statement on Monday.
Thakur dismissed any link between her statement and superstition.
"I failed to understand why my remarks are taken in such wrong way and I am being trolled," she said.
"I am a Congress party worker and as I am a born Hindu, I wear a bindi and a necklace. I also visit a dargah," she added.