RAIPUR: All in the name of the cow, the Chhattisgarh Congress staged a quirky ‘Gau Satyagrah’, during which stray cattle were delivered to district and SDM offices to highlight the growing menace of stray cows—a problem the party claims it managed better during its previous tenure. By reclaiming the cow narrative from the BJP, Congress is making a statement that the cattle crisis has spiralled out of control under the current regime.
Congress on Friday carried out a state-wide ‘Gau Satyagrah’- a protest against deaths of cows in road accidents and problems caused due to stray cattle-wherein Congress leaders took stray animals to all district offices, SDM offices, and other govt offices and left them there.
The party workers were out on the streets in rain, wearing cow masks on their faces and raised slogans claiming cow smuggling has increased in the BJP regime across the state and the party was highly concerned for safety of cows.
State Congress president Deepak Baij said, “We are carrying out a day-long protest across the state because cows are not safe in Chhattisgarh anymore, they are dying in accidents, killed, the cattle are on roads and govt has no solution to the problem. This protest is to wake the sleeping govt up and save cows. They have shut down the initiatives that Congress govt had taken for welfare of cows and farmer, which has caused the problem to rise.”
Congress leaders including former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel were seen walking with dozens of cows to be delivered at governmentt offices.
Former Congress MLA Vikas Upadhyay said that BJP talks about cows only when they want votes but after coming to power, cow death, and smuggling increased while Congress had arranged ‘gauthans’ for cows and their food.
“Smuggling of cows in Arang Baloda Bazar, Bhatapara, Palari, have been reported, hence, we are going to deliver cows off streets to the office of district collector,” Upadhyay said.
Congress during its regime had initiated Godhan Nyay Yojana under which, cow shelters were opened in villages with facilities for their fodder and health, to prevent road accidents due to cattle, saving crops of farmers and maintaining cleanliness on roads. There were schemes to procure cow dung and urine that opened sources for revenue among rural people, Congress leaders said. But now the streets and roundabouts are full of cows and livestock, while there have been cases where dozens of cows were razed down by vehicles.
Recently on August 13, about 22 dead cows were found dead at different places in Baloda Bazar district, on August 2, a truck hit cattle sitting on the highway in Korea district, killing five cows on the spot.
In July, a truck hit more than 20 cattle in Tilda, Raipur district, killing 15 cows.
Reacting to the allegations and protest, BJP state general secretary Sanjay Srivastava said that those who have been sheltering those involved in killing cows are pretending to save cows today.
“On the name of Gauthan and Godhan nyay yojana, Congress had created a means of corruption under which crores of corruption was done during its regime. During Congress govt, they have done a scam of Rs 13000 crore on the name of concern towards cows and ‘roka-cheka’ campaign,” Srivastava said.
He added that it’s an attempt to save its political face that the Congress is resorting to ‘saving gau-vansh’, because it was only in Congress regime in September 2023 when the carcass of cows was dumped on roads after the cows had consumed poisonous food after Rahul Gandhi’s visit.