Mother Cow is Cool

[Guest guest]

Cow is cool in Cow Belt, Digvijay goes the whole hog

 

 

Congress tries to one-up BJP on gaubhakti, minister says cow's urine

part of Chief Minister's diet

 

 

Hartosh Singh Bal

 

 

 

Bhopal, January 21: ``A scientist from New Zealand has told me how

he, on the basis of Indian scriptures, has established that cow horns

filled with cow dung and buried on a certain specified date and then

taken out on another specified date serve to fertilise one whole acre

without need of any other fertisliser.''

Digvijay Singh, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Bhopal, January 21

 

Cow is suddenly cool. Struggling to tackle the hardline Hindutva

onslaught, Cow Belt's Congressmen, led by Digvijay Singh, are

rediscovering the gau mata. So while speaker after speaker at a

seminar in Bhopal on Tuesday praised the holy cow, a minister went a

step ahead to reiterate his boss's credential as a gaubhakt: He said

Digvijay Singh drank cow's urine.

 

 

 

The seminar was organised by the Love 4 Cow Trust — its motto: `aao

gai se pyaar karen — and was funded partly by the state government.

Singh said how his government had set up a Gausewa Ayog

which ``others should have done.'' ``People who play politics in the

name of gau mata did not do so, we did it,'' he said.

 

But speakers preceding him had tried hard to establish the chief

minister's love for cow. Minister for Animal Husbandry Shiv Narayan

Meena revealed that Digvijay partakes of gau mutra and went on to

suggest that urban intellectuals would be better off keeping cows

rather than setting off in the morning to walk their dogs. Chairman

of the Gausewa Ayog Mahendra Bam spelt out how under Digvijay ``cow

slaughter had been banned. This has resulted in the state being one

of the few places where the cattle population is increasing. In 1999

the state had 80 gaushalas. Now the number is 550, the number of

cattle in these is up from 8,500 to 1.79 lakh.'' Bam wound up his

speech with slogans of `Jai gaumata ki jai'.

 

 

As experts at the `International Seminar on Cow and Bio-diversity'

and the Member of the Planning Commission, Som Pal, dwelt on how

cross-breeding with imported high-yield varieties was threatening the

diversity of India's own indigenous species, Digvijay revealed that

his own knowledge of the cow and its by-products.

 

``The cow has its own importance for the country. It is different

from any animal and we see it as our mata. Which other animal is of

use for its milk, urine and dung? There are some qualities which set

the cow apart. When it is realised that only the urine of our native

cattle has the necessary medicinal properties, it compels even a

rational thinker,'' he said.

 

``This state has initiated a lot of research on cow urine and it now

sells for Rs 4 to 5 per litre. A pesticide of gau mutra along with

neem has yielded good results. A scientist from New Zealand has told

me how he, on the basis of Indian scriptures, has established that

cow horns filled with cow dung and buried on a certain specified date

and then taken out on another specified date serve to fertilise one

whole acre without need of any other fertisliser,'' the chief

minister added.

 

Later, he came back to politics: ``We have reached the stage where

dry dairy farming, through the use of non-milch products such as dung

and urine, is economically viable and there are no grounds for cow

slaughter. Look at Babar's wasiyat to Humayun, it is at the national

archives, where he tells his son that to rule India he must stop

cowslaughter for the cow is a mother to the Hindus. And people say he

demolished a temple to build a masjid. In fact the Quereshi samaj in

Bhopal and Indore have called me for functions and pledged on the

Koran not to indulge in cow slaughter.''

 

Cow politics has already become a major issue in the state. Flagging

off the Bhartiya Yuva Janta Morcha rally in Ujjain on January 12, Uma

Bharti had defined Bhartiyata as Hindutva, which she had said was

the ``four Vedas, gaumata, ganagmata and gitamata.''

 

On the same day, speaking 100 km from Ujjain, Digvijay had pitched in

with his crdentials as a gaubhakt. Just a couple of days later, arson

and loot took place in Ganjbasoda after an incident of cowslaughter

was reported.

 

Ever since then, the BJP has been attacking Digvijay's record on cow

protection. So while vice-patron of the Love 4 Cow Trust S.C.

Tripathi, former director general of police, revealed that the

invitation to Singh was extended well before recent political

occurrences, Digvijay ensured that he was not one to let an

opportunity slip.