- ISKCON has sent a Rs 100-crore defamation notice to Maneka Gandhi for levelling completely unfounded allegations against ISKCON,”
- ‘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,’ the BJP MP said.
- Stating that the worldwide community of ISKCON devotees, supporters and well-wishers are deeply pained by the allegations, he termed these as “malicious accusations”. Radharamn Das said.
- ISKCON, in its statement, said it is “deeply pained by these defamatory, slanderous, and malicious accusations” and “will not leave any stone unturned in our pursuit of justice against the fallacious propaganda”.
- With a huge following across the world, ISKCON is a well-known Hindu religious and spiritual order.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, Maneka Gandhi, has been slapped with a Rs 100 crore defamation notice by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) following her comments against the religious organization.
“Today, we have sent a Rs 100-crore defamation notice to Maneka Gandhi for levelling completely unfounded allegations against our organisation,” The Hindu quoted ISKCON vice-president Radharamn Das as saying in a statement.
In a video, which has been going viral on social media over the past few days, Gandhi could be heard charging ISKCON as the “biggest cheat in the country which sells cows from its gaushalas (cowsheds) to butchers”.
She also goes on to say in the video, “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 HareKrishna‘ and say their entire life is dependent on milk.”
Gandhi made the comments during an interview on a YouTube channel, Maa Ka Doodh, which delves into the cruelty of the dairy farming industry. The interview was uploaded on YouTube on August 18.
In the interview, she narrates, “I recently visited their Anantapur Gaushala [in Andhra Pradesh] and did not find even a single cow in good condition there…There were no calves in the gaushala, which means all of them were sold off.”
ISKCON, in its statement, said it is “deeply pained by these defamatory, slanderous, and malicious accusations” and “will not leave any stone unturned in our pursuit of justice against the fallacious propaganda”.
In its defence, ISKCON said that it has pioneered cow protection in many parts of the world where beef is a staple diet. “Within India, ISKCON runs more than 60 goshalas protecting hundreds of sacred cows and bulls and providing personalized care for their entire lifetime. Many of the cows presently served in ISKCON’s goshalas were brought to us after being found abandoned, injured, or rescued from being slaughtered,” the religious organisation explained.
With a huge following across the world, ISKCON is a well-known Hindu religious and spiritual order. It was established by Srila Prabhupada in 1966 and is headquartered at Mayapur in West Bengal’s Nadia district.
(With inputs from agencies
