Cows don't vote: PM Vote-bank politics not for us, says Modi

| Lucknow | Published 24.09.17, 12:00 AM

Lucknow, Sept. 23: Promoting cow protection is not vote-bank politics because "animals don't vote", Prime Minister Narendra Modi reasoned today in Varanasi.

As he wrapped up a two-day visit to his constituency that focused on Ram and the cow - two issues that have been most used for divisive politics - the Prime Minister insisted that his sanskar (grounding) never allowed him to practise vote-bank politics.

"It's a political compulsion for many to do only the kind of work that strengthens their vote bank. But, brothers and sisters, we have received a different sanskar (grounding)," he said after inaugurating a month-long cattle health fair in Shahanshahpur, a village 25km from Varanasi city.

"Our character is different. The country is more important to us than a party. We don't fix our priorities according to votes. This fair is for the service of animals, who are never going to vote.... These animals are not anybody's voters."

Cow protection has become a controversial subject with cow vigilantes and opponents of beef-eating lynching several Muslims over the past two years, mostly in BJP-ruled states. Modi has issued a handful of condemnations of criminals masquerading as cow protectors, usually after long periods of silence.

Referring to today's event, he said: "Such a campaign for cattle health had never been organised in the past 70 years."

Yesterday, too, the Prime Minister had achieved another first by launching postage stamps depicting aspects of the life of Ram in Varanasi .

A BJP politician in Lucknow acknowledged to this newspaper: "The cow and Ram will always play a major role in our party's victory in elections."

The Centre had two years ago launched a Rashtriya Gokul Mission - a national campaign to protect cattle - in Mathura and Shahanshahpur. So far, only a shelter for 300 cows has come up in Shahanshahpur, a Hindu majority village of 8,000 with a 14 per cent Dalit population.

Humayun, son of Babar and the second Mughal emperor, had camped in the village (then called Kalupur) during the Battle of Chausa against Sher Shah Suri in 1539, a year before a second defeat in Kannauj prompted him to flee to Persia.

After returning from exile in 1555 and retaking his empire, Humayun named the village after himself ("shahanshah" means "king of kings").

More than 1,700 heads of cattle, mostly cows, have been brought to Shahanshahpur from across eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar for the fair, with the Yogi Adityanath government deploying an army of vets. Modi advised the chief minister to hold similar fairs elsewhere in the state too.

The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for a lavatory in Shahanshahpur and lauded the state government for coining a more decorous word for shauchalay (toilet).

"Today I saw ' izzat-ghar' (chamber of honour) written on the wall of a shauchalay," he said, adding that toilets were indeed meant to protect the honour of India's women.

He added: "I have decided to give a house to every poor person by 2022. I know it's difficult; but who'll do such a difficult job if not Modi?"