Pushing for gaushalas (cow shelter) in every village, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said the government should put a cess to generate funds. Such a cess should be optional but still, it would generate so much money for protecting cows.
Swamy had moved a private member bill on cow protection in Rajya Sabha on Friday in which he advocated capital punishment in rare cases to prevent cow slaughter. He even suggested that an authority to ensure stabilisation of population of cows be set up.
To build his case in the Upper House, Swamy said even Mughals had banned cow slaughter. “Cow eating was not prevalent during the Mughal period. In 1857 Bahadur Shah declared ban on cow slaughter.
“There is anecdotal information that Babar had told his son Humayun that as cows were a sentimental issue, there should not be any slaughter,” the BJP MP said.
He pinned the blame of co slaughter on British who overturned last Mughal's order. “It is the British who made this cow-cutting as a part of our regular fashionable cuisine and that is how it became prevalent in our country.”
He suggested that there were not only religious arguments behind banning cow slaughter but scientific too. “The US has given patents for cow urine to be used in medicine. In the rural areas, now, some new institutions have come up in Nagpur and Bhopal. The cow-dung has been converted into bricks for building solid houses,” he added.
Speaking during the debate, CPI's D. Raja said that cow was being used as a weapon of hate, a weapon of killing fellow citizens.
Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh assured Swamy that government was taking steps in ensuring the protection of the cows. He urged his party MP to withdraw the bill. Swamy said he was ready to give the government one more chance for bringing enough cow protection measures. He later withdrew the bill with a warning that he may be back with same bill if the government was not serious.
