Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: February 21, 2003
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=18798
At a hurriedly called press conference,
BJP leader Uma Bharti today unveiled a letter written by the MP Youth Congress
chief, Menakshi Natrajan, which made clear for the first time the beef
issue which has stung Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
The letter, dated February 3, sent
out to all district, town and block-level Youth Congress leaders, calls
upon the cadre to spread the word about increased production of beef under
the Central Government and listed five slogans which were to be used for
this purpose. These are:
. Atal sarkar ki kya uplabdhi, gau-mans
niryat mein vridhi (What has the Atal government achieved? Increase in
beef exports)
. Gau-mans ka kaun vyapari, Atal
Behari, Atal Behari (Who trades in beef? Atal Behari)
. Pehle Ram naam beinch satta pai,
ab gaiyya, teri baari aai (First they sold the name of Ram to capture power,
now it's the turn of the cow)
. Gaumata ki jaan bachao, Atal ki
sarkar hatao (Save the cow, remove Atal's government)
. Gai hamari mata hai, Atal Behari
khata hai, videsh bhej khilwata hai (The cow is our mother whom Atal Behari
eats and also sends it abroad to be eaten) State Congress spokesman Lalit
Srivastava confirmed that the letter was genuine.
''Yes, such a letter was indeed
sent out but it has been withdrawn yesterday. However, no posters of the
kind alleged have been printed,'' he said. Interestingly, last night CM
Digvijay Singh had at a Press conference denied any knowledge of such slogans
and stated that he was against the use of any such poster or slogan. Incidentally,
a copy of the letter was marked to Digvijay Singh.
Uma's Press conference was a part
of the state unit's response to the Prime Minister's criticism earlier
this week about the campaign being carried out by the state Congress and
the failure of the BJP cadre to defend his reputation. Later today, BJP
activists protesting against Digvijay's ''anti-cow'' policies were lathicharged
when they tried to storm the CM's residence.
Digvijay himself has shown no signs
of relenting on this issue despite the Congress high command having reportedly
asked him to do so. On the very day Vajpayee was expressing his anguish,
i.e Feb 18, Digvijay reiterated the theme in the course of his reply to
the discussion on the Governor's address: ''The first time cow-slaughter
was prohibited in the state was under the Congress government in 1959...In
contrast, the production of beef has been constantly increasing under the
BJP Government at the Centre.'' Yesterday, he admitted to reporters that
an earlier reference to increase in beef exports under the BJP was wrong
and he had actually meant to talk about production of beef in the country.
Asked about his call for a ban on
cow-slaughter, Digvijay said he had not demanded any such ban but had just
forwarded a memorandum containing such a demand. But a ban, he said, was
entirely in consonance with the Congress philosophy and the demand had
been articulated by Mahatma Gandhi himself.
