‘Hadiya was unaware of Hindu culture’, ‘B’desh smuggles our cows’, say RSS cadres

NAGPUR:Claims that ‘Hadiya was never taught about Hindu culture’ and ‘Bangladeshis steal Indian cows on the border’ were made by two Rashtriya

Swayamsevak Sangh

(RSS) leaders on Sunday. Chairperson of Rashtra Sevika Samiti (RSS’s women’s wing) Shantakka and

Sahasarkaryawah

of RSS Krishna

Gopal

made these claims at a women’s empowerment seminar at Dr Vasantrao Deshpande Hall.

Shantakka’s take on the ongoing controversy surrounding Hadiya’s (alias Akhila Ashokan) marriage to her Muslim husband Shafin Jehan was that ‘children are not made aware of Hindu culture early on’. She also insisted that ‘love jihad’ cases were on the rise.

Mincing no words, Shantakka said, “People who know Hadiya say that it was our fault for not promoting our culture, which became the reason for Hadiya to convert to Islam. Hadiya now says she can’t go back to her father because she won’t be able to live any longer.”

Shantakka claimed she was told the above reason during her tour of Kerala. She also claimed that Hadiya too openly claimed lack of teaching of Hindu culture prompted her to follow Islam. “Hadiya said that she knew nothing about Hindu culture because it wasn’t taught in her schools or college. She was given a CD explaining the importance of Islam by her Muslim male friend the very second day after they met. Hadiya says she now has deep faith in Islam and cannot go back,” said Shantakka.

Opining that ‘love jihad’ is a matter of national security, Shantakka said, “Hadiya’s friends and family said we didn’t do enough to promote our culture. We need to understand the situation keeping in mind national security.”

Gopal was delivering a key note lecture on national security where he mentioned that over 24 lakh cows per year for four years were smuggled over to Bangladesh. “Bangladesh is the world’s largest exporter of beef because of smuggling of Indian cows. A cow that sells for Rs4,500 here sells for Rs20,000 across the border.”

Interestingly, Gopal said, “Cows from Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal came near the border which posed a problem for the Border Security Force (BSF). The BSF would auction these cows but were bought by them (Bangladeshis).”

The RSS leader claims he obtained the information of tax collected on 24 lakh cows which were sold in Bangladesh from its national daily. “Fortunately, the number has gone down to 4 lakh cows and the government is attempting to bring that number to zero,” claimed Gopal.