Bharatiya Janata Party National General Secretary Ram Madhav on Tuesday condemned the spate of cow-related lynchings across the country, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday. Speaking at an India-Bangladesh Friendship Dialogue event in Guwahati, Madhav said that while the cow is sacred, killing in the name of the animal is not. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has been accused of turning a blind eye towards incidents of hate crimes against members of minority communities.
“[The] cow is sacred. Cow protection is also sacred. But life itself is sacred, and there is nothing sacred in lynching or taking life away in the name of cow protection,” Madhav said. The saffron party leader’s comments, on the matter that has triggered nationwide public protests, ended there.
He urged Bangladesh to regulated and curb fundamental forces within its territory. “Fundamentalism, along with terrorism, seems to threaten the core values in both India and Bangladesh,” Madhav said. “Banga-bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had way back in 1972 had warned that politics of communalism would not be allowed in Bangladesh. The Banga-bandhu had also made it clear that Bangladesh would be a secular state where all people would practice their respective religions.”
Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, who presided over the event, said a temple was desecrated in Bangladesh’s Tahirpur and that a 400-year-old tradition was stopped. “Bangladesh has to address this issue,” Roy said. “I am sure Prime Minister Hasina Sheikh will take care of this issue. We can only merely express concern.”
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