RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said jail inmates showed a considerable decline in their criminal tendency when they were tasked with looking after cows as part of the punishment. Bhagwat, according to news agency PTI, was speaking at a function held by an organisation, Go-Vigyan Sanshodhan Sanshtha, which claims to work on ‘cow science’ research.
“Cow is the mother of universe….it nurtures soil, it nurtures animals, birds and it also nurtures humans and protects them from diseases and makes the human heart as tender as flower,” Bhagwat was quoted as saying.
The RSS chief continued, “When jails set up cow sheds and prisoners started rearing cows, the authorities saw that the criminal mindset of these prisoners started diminishing, and I am telling you this from experiences shared by some jail authorities.”
Bhagwat’s organisation is the ideological parent of India’s ruling BJP. Under the government headed by the BJP, many members of minority communities have been killed in the name of cows. Bhagwat’s latest comments suggest that soon Indian jails will have dedicated cowsheds in a bid to reform dreaded criminals. That’s because the RSS is believed to wield enormous clout over the BJP with the former’s chief enjoying status at par with the prime minister. After BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, Bhagwat’s annual speech on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Dussehra began to be broadcast live on Doordarshan, India’s public broadcaster.
