- BJP’s Maneka Gandhi says ‘ISKCON biggest cheat, sells cows to butchers’
- BJP’s Maneka Gandhi has accused ISKCON, alleging that they establish cow shelters to receive government benefits but sell their cows to butchers.
- In A video, widely shared on the internet, the former Union Minister and an animal rights activist is heard saying, “ISKCON establishes gaushalas and earns unlimited benefits for the same from the government, in the form of huge lands.”
- “ISKCON is selling all its cows to the butchers and no one else does this more than them. They are the ones who roam on the road chanting ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ and say their entire life is dependent on milk,” Maneka Gandhi was heard saying in the video.
- However, ISKCON rejected Maneka Gandhi’s allegations as “unsubstantiated and false” and said they were “surprised” by the statements of the former Union Minister.
In a scathing attack on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), BJP MP Maneka Gandhi alleged the religious organization is the “biggest cheat” in the country as it sells cows from its gaushalas to butchers.
The remarks, made by the BJP MP in a video that has gone viral, drew a sharp response from ISKCON, the most influential Krishna sect in the world, terming the allegations as “unsubstantiated and false.”
Gandhi, a former Union minister, and an animal rights activist, is vocal on social media over issues of animal welfare.
In the video, Gandhi is heard saying, “ISKCON is the biggest cheat in the country. They establish gaushalas for which they get unlimited benefits from the government. They get huge lands, everything…”
Narrating her visit to ISKCON’s Anantpur gaushala, she said that she couldn’t find a single cow that doesn’t give milk and there were no calves at all. “It means all of them were sold. ISKCON is selling all its cows to butchers. No one else does as much as they do. And these people go on roads and chant Hare Rama Hare Krishna! They say their whole life is dependent on milk. Probably, no one has sold as many cattle to butchers as they did. If these people can do it, what about others?” she asked.
However, ISKCON rejected Maneka Gandhi’s allegations as “unsubstantiated and false” and said they were “surprised” by the statements of the former Union Minister.
“ISKCON has pioneered cow protection in many parts of the world where beef is a staple diet,” ISKCON’s national spokesperson Yudhistir Govinda Das said in the statement. “Many of the cows presently served in ISKCON’s goshalas were brought to us after being abandoned, injured, or rescued from being slaughtered,” the statement added.
Later, in a video, ISKCON Public Relations Officer (PRO) Radharaman Das released a video, wherein he condemned Maneka Gandhi for her remarks and demanded proof supporting her statements.
The ISKCON PRO also claimed that Maneka Gandhi did not visit the Anantapur Gaushala as the staff working there said they did not have information about her visit. Further, the ISKCON PRO also urged Maneka Gandhi to present a video of the Gaushala, which she claims to be in a miserable state.
ISKCON, popularly known as the Hare Krishna Movement, serves to “systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world,” its website states.
(With inputs from agencies)
