At town hall event, PM Modi says self-styled cow protectors make him angry

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that people who have set up shop in the name of ‘gau raksha (cow protection)’ make him very angry.

Modi’s remarks at a town hall-style event in New Delhi are his first on a raging controversy over attacks by self-styled cow protectors against Muslims and Dalits on suspicion that they slaughtered cows or ate beef -- an act banned in several Indian states. Cows are revered animals for Hindus.

“People who have set up shop in the name of gau raksha (cow protection) make me very angry. Most of them are anti-social elements hiding behind the mask of cow protection,” Modi said in his interaction with citizens at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex to mark the second anniversary of his government’s MyGov initiative.

“I will ask state governments to prepare a dossier on such people as 80% of them will be found to be involved in anti-social activities which no society will approve of,” Modi said.