Take cows away from Muslims as goat is their mother,' says BJP leader

Barabanki: BJP leader Ranjit Bahadur Srivastava on Monday in a controversial statement said that cows belonging to Muslims should be taken away from them at any cost.

"Cows in the houses of Muslims should be taken back. When we consider girls from our homes going to their homes as 'love jihad', shouldn't we consider 'gau mata' going to their homes 'love jihad' too? This is love jihad. Cows should be taken back from them at any cost," he told ANI.

Srivastava said that cows are essentially Hindus and that they should be cremated in accordance to Hindu rituals.

"Cows are like our mother. We should conduct the final rites of our cows as we do to our mothers. We will create a cremation site for cows," he said.

He also said that Muslims should rear goats instead of cows.

"Goat is their mother. They should opt for goat rearing. Why do they rear cows? This is love jihad. I am against it," he said.

The BJP leader said that Muslims should adopt the Hindu religion to end the divide between two religions.

"Muslims when they came to India most Hindus converted into Islam. Looking at this, they are like our brothers and they should come back to their old religion," he said.