Already, a raging debate is going on in the country over lynching over cow and consumption of beef in the country, and Netaji’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose stirred a hornet’s nest with his controversial tweet. Bose engaged in a war of words with Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy on whether the goats, like cows, should be considered as “mothers” by the Hindus. The vice-president of BJP’s West Bengal unit cited Mahatma Gandhi and his food habits to drive home his point, that Hindus should stop eating goat meat since the Father of the Nation considered it as “mother”.
A report appearing in the The Indian Express stated that Netaji’s grandnephew while referring that Mahatma Gandhi used to consume goat’s milk when he was staying at his grandfather – Sarat Chandra Bose’s house in Kolkata – tweeted:
“Gandhi ji used to stay in my grandfather – Sarat Chandra Bose’s house at 1 Woodburn Park in Kolkata. He demanded goat’s milk! Two goats brought to the house for this purpose. Gandhi protector of Hindus treated goats as Mata by consuming goat’s milk. Hindus stop eating goat’s meat (sic).”
To this, the Tripura Governor, Tathagata Roy, immediately shot back by saying that neither Gandhiji nor Netaji “worshipped goats as mothers”.
“Neither Gandhiji nor your grandfather ever said goats were Mata – that’s your conclusion. Nor did Gandhiji (or anyone else) ever proclaim that he was the protector of Hindus. We Hindus regard the cow as our mother, not the goat. Please don’t peddle such rot,” Roy said in a tweet on June 26, a day after Bose’s tweet.
The report further stated that justifying his tweet, Bose immediately said that he used Gandhiji’s reference as a metaphor. “One must realise the subtlety and metaphorical meaning of my tweet. My messages to the political fraternity don’t mix up religion with politics. We must protect animals but not at the cost of humans (sic),” he said.
Bose was referring to the recent incidents of lynching wherein some people were killed on suspicion of smuggling cows. Going on a tweet spree, Bose again tweeted on Monday that people should not be told what to eat and what not to. He drew a parallel between beef and goat meat.
“It’s time to put things in the right perspective! Stop telling people what they should eat. If you don’t allow people to eat beef – stop eating goat’s meat. Don’t mix-up religion with politics. Politics has nothing to do with any religion,” he tweeted on Monday.
He tweeted: Stop mixing religion with politics! Stop dictating what people should eat. India is a nation for all communities, religion, caste & creed. It’s not the business of any political party or Govt to decide diet of people. Unity in diversity is the character of India. JAI HIND
Explaining why he considered goat a sacred animal, Netaji’s grandnephew said, “I tried to use it as a reference. In many parts of the country, goats were sacrificed during worship of Goddess Kali. If the goat is not a sacred animal then why was it used during worship of Kali? By that logic we should not consume goat.”