Modi targets UPA over beef exports, defends wrong animal

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today went on the offensive over cow slaughter in the country, accusing the UPA government of leading a ‘pink revolution’ and aiming to make the nation the biggest exporter of beef despite the hallowed status accorded to the cow under Hindu mythology. [caption id=“attachment_413834” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Who gave me this data? Narendra Modi is a file picture. AFP[/caption] In his latest post on his blog , the Chief Minister and potential prime ministerial candidate in 2014, first greeted his supporters on the occasion of Janmashtami and then launched into a tirade on the cow’s status in Indian culture. Accusing the UPA government of promoting the slaughter of cows, Modi said the Centre was disinterested in the culture of India:

It saddens me that present UPA Government led by Congress is promoting slaughtering of cows and exporting beef to bring ‘Pink Revolution’. Our ancient Indian ethos and values don’t teach us to kill mother cow, who nurture us from the day we start taking shape in the womb of our mother till we leave this mother earth. Sadly, the UPA seems unbothered about this rich ethos of our culture. It wants to make India the biggest exporter of beef!

He also asked his supporters to reflect on the matter of cow slaughter. Unfortunately for the chief minister, he may have got his facts a bit jumbled up. A Financial Times report supports him on the fact that India will become the biggest exporter of beef, but of water buffalo not cow meat. And as Firstpost had pointed out earlier , buffaloes are quickly replacing cows across India due to higher milk yield and the fact that there is no restriction on their slaughter. And this is highest in the states which don’t permit cow slaughter. Why? Because states that seek to prevent cow slaughter effectively raise the economic costs of owning a cow and force people to opt for buffaloes, where the injunction against slaughter is lower. Perhaps, the good chief minister’s advisors could have shown him this data a little earlier.