Hyderabad: In a surprising move which is likely to raise eyebrows, Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy on Tuesday, June 17, instructed officials to formulate a “comprehensive” policy for cow protection in the state. The directive comes about a week after three back-to-back incidents of cow vigilantes (gau rakshak) violence were reported within a day after Eid ul Adha or Bakrid.
According to a press release from the Telangana CM’s office, Revanth Reddy asked officials to constitute a three member special committee and to set up cow shelters with state-of-the-art facilities in four places in the first phase.
The three-member official cow protection committee will comprise special chief secretary to Animal Husbandry Department Sabyasachi Ghosh, Principal Secretary to Endowments Department Shailaja Ramaiyar and secretary of the state Agriculture Department Raghunandan Rao.
The cow protection committee will conduct an in-depth study on the establishment of cow shelters (Goshalas) and also visit other states to study the cow protection policies, added the release. The decision comes at a time when civil society members and others have been criticising the Telangana Congress government for allowing cow vigilantes to function and harass traders.
This year as well, in the run up to Eid ul Adha, a series of incidents involving cattle traders were reported in and around Hyderabad. In Jalpally, gau rakshaks burnt a DCM carrying cattle waste, while a trader carrying animals was attacked.
Moreover, Hyderabad over the last year has also witnessed back-to-back communal incidents including the desecration of temples and attacks on religious places belonging to Muslims. The state government run by the Congress has been severely criticised for that as well.
In the meeting on Tuesday, the Telangana CM emphasized that the new policies should focus on cow protection “in view of the importance of cows in our culture and the sentiments of the devotees”. He expressed anguished over the spate of “dying of the cows which are donated in large numbers by the devotees to cow shelters” due to space constraints and other problems, stated the release.
“These cow shelters will be established in sizeable areas in the famous temple Vemulawada where the devotees donates Calves as part of ‘ Kode Mokku ‘ ritual , Yadagirigutta, Yenkepally near Hyderabad city and at Animal Husbandry university in the first phase,” it added.
The Telangana CM also suggested that special attention should be paid to protection of calves donated and instructed the officials to establish the cow shelter in a sprawling over 100 acres of land at Vemulawada. “CM Revanth Reddy made it clear that the state government is ready to spend liberally for cow protection,” added the release.
It may be noted that Revanth Reddy in recent times has also publicly stated that Telangana is out of money and that his government is in financial doldrums. Last month he requested state government employees to not undertake any protests over payment arrears and other issues. The government finally on June 4 said it decided to disburse 2 dearness allowance (DA) arrears out of the 5 pending DAs to its government employees. The first DA will be released immediately, while the second will be released after 6 months.
A political analyst who did not want to be quoted said that the cow protection committee will only embolden right-wing gau rakshaks from taking law into their own hands. “This is playing right into the hands of BJP. At a time when the Congress as a party is fighting the BJP on ideology, this CM here is making it easy for them to control narratives via such actions,” he added.
