CHANDIGARH: Haryana’s health minister and top BJP functionary Anil Vij on Wednesday called for declaring the cow as India’s national animal.

“Declare cow as national animal of India instead of royal Bengal tiger,” Vij tweeted. The minister warned cows were becoming endangered because “mafia has become active in the country to target the species”.

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“Protecting cow is important for Hindustan,” he said. “The cow requires protection as the tiger can defend himself to a large extent and has even been given protection under the Wildlife Protection Act.’’

The statement comes over a week after Mohammed Akhlaq was lynched over beef-eating rumours at Dadri near Delhi.

Numerous incidents of vehicles being set on fire over suspicions that cows were being transported to slaughterhouses in them have been reported from Haryana over the past few months.

Haryana has perhaps the most stringent anti-cow slaughter law in the country. Months after coming to power, the BJP government in the state doubled jail term for cow slaughter from five to 10 years.

The move had come just days after another BJP-ruled state, Maharashtra, imposed a five-year jail term for cow slaughter.

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The Congress has blamed the BJP leaders for exploiting public sentiments for political gains and called Vij’s demand an attempt to divert attention from real issues.

Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar said there is no doubt the cow has an important place in the Indian society. “But BJP leaders want to polarize society by raising this issue again and again.’’

Another Congress functionary Ran Singh Mann said the real aim of BJP was to provoke sentiments. “They (BJP leaders) do not keep cows at their homes but raise such issues for political reasons.’’

High court lawyer Rajiv Godara asked Vij to focus on health and education. “Vij has raised this issue to cover up failures of his government,’’ he said.

