‘Save cows’ campaign aims to expose BJP’s hollowness, says UP Congress chief Ajay Lallu

UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, who has been under house arrest for the last three days after he took out a “gai bachao, kisan bachao” (save cows, save farmers) yatra in Lalitpur district of Bundelkhand, has said that the purpose of his yatra was to expose the hollowness of BJP’s stance on cows.

Talking to NH from Lucknow where his house is being guarded by the UP Police round the clock, Lallu said that he was not even allowed to attend an event to mark the 136th foundation day of the Congress party.

“I wanted to pay a tribute to the father of the nation Mahatna Gandhi with party workers, but we were stopped by the police. There is an undeclared state of emergency in Uttar Pradesh in Yogi raj,” said Lallu.

He said his yatra was scheduled to start from Saujana in Lalitpur and was to pass through all seven districts of Bundelkhand before culminating at the banks of river Mandakini in Chitrakoot, where a ‘tarpan’ ritual was to be done to highlight how BJP only talks about cow but does nothing to protect them.

“The BJP claims to do a lot for the cows…They keep making announcements for the protection and welfare of cows but in reality, they have done nothing except spending hundreds of crores in various schemes launched in the name of cows,” said Lallu, adding that thousands of cows have died in the past few months due to lack of food and care for them.

Congress workers staged a sit-in and took out marches in various places to highlight the plight of the cows after it came to the fore that 10 cows died last week. The UP Police booked eight officials after the Congress raised the issue.

“A nodal officer has been appointed in each district of UP after we raised the matter,” Lallu said.

Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also wrote to UP CM Yogi Adityanath last week, asking him to follow “Gau Dhan Yojina” launched by Chhattisgarh government.

Asked why the UP Congress is taking out marches for the protection of cows at a time when lakhs of farmers were on the streets demanding a repeal of the newly-enacted farm laws, Lallu said both issues are related to each other. “Those who are trying to give it a communal spin will not succeed as our intent is clear. Cows and farmers are an integral part of the agrarian economy. We have to expose the hollowness of BJP’s promises about cow protection as well as the farmers’ protection.”