Praising the Maharashtra government for banning cow slaughter, home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said even the Mughals knew they would not be able to rule over the hearts of Indians while supporting cow slaughter, a fact that the British could not realise.
“Mughal rulers understood that by killing cows and giving their open support to cow slaughter, they cannot rule for a long period. Even Babur, in his will, has written we can’t do two things at one time. Either rule the hearts of people or eat cow’s meat,” Singh said at a function on cow conservation here.
He said the British, however, did not honour Indian culture and one of the issues that sparked off the first freedom struggle was Presidency soldiers refusing to use cartridges greased with cow fat.
At the event, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said his ministry was considering a proposal to use the rural employment guarantee scheme fund to grow grass that can be used as fodder for cattle.
“We are considering a proposal to let people grow grass under MGNREGA which can then be distributed free of cost in neighbouring villages as fodder. This will help farmers who are unable to take care of cows after they stop giving milk,” Javadekar said.
{{/usCountry}}“We are considering a proposal to let people grow grass under MGNREGA which can then be distributed free of cost in neighbouring villages as fodder. This will help farmers who are unable to take care of cows after they stop giving milk,” Javadekar said.
{{/usCountry}}The government also patted its back for putting a check on the rampant smuggling of cattle across the India-Bangladesh border.
Singh said he was briefed by the Bangladesh high commissioner and the DG of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Friday that beef prices in their country had increased manifold following the crackdown by the Indian government on illegal smugglers.
“Our efforts have produced good results. We plan to take states, which share the boundary with Bangladesh, on board to completely stop smuggling of cows,” Singh said.