Eye on polls, Congress backs Gujarat chief Bharatsinh Solanki

New Delhi: Desperate to win elections, the Congress has extended its tacit support to its Gujarat chief Bharatsinh Solanki, who emulated the BJP and demanded that the Centre should declare “the cow a national animal”. 

While the All India Congress Committee (AICC) refused to come out with any official reaction, leaders said that the party has “no objection” to such remarks as long as it is able to counter the BJP.  But Mr Solanki is not the only Congress leader who has become a “cow bhakt”. 

Jitu Patwari, Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh and secretary in-charge of Gujarat, went a step forward and sought the cow be declared “the mother of the nation”. 

He tweeted, “I support the concept of cow being declared a national animal. But cow is our mother. How can a mother be termed a national animal? Cow should be declared as the mother of the nation.” When contacted, Mr Patwar reiterated, “I demand the cow to be declared as the mother of the nation.”

After the drubbing in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is desperately looking for a win. The BJP has branded the Congress “anti-Hindu”, and the party is going all out to “gain the confidence of the majority community,” a party leader said.

A senior Congress leader said, “After all, we have to win elections. There’s nothing wrong in saying what our leaders are saying on the cow issue.”

Some party leaders felt that the Congress was reduced to seven seats in UP as it was “made to look like anti-Hindu”. The feedback received by the Congress from UP revealed that in spite of promoting two Brahmins — Sheila Dikshit and Pramod Tewari — the party was “projected to be espousing the cause of the minorities”.

It may be recalled that besides Mr Solanki and Mr Patwari, AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh had gone on record saying that when he was Madhya Pradesh chief minister he had banned cow slaughter. 

The Congress also intends to celebrate Hindu festivals in times to come.