Gandhi ji treated goats as mata, stop eating mutton: Netaji`s kin takes sarcastic jibe at cow vigilantism

CK Bose says his subtle message comes at a time when the entire country is shocked by incidents of lynching.

New Delhi: CK Bose, grand-nephew of Subhash Chandra Bose, recently tweeted about how Gandhi ji used to revere goats and called for Hindus to give up eating mutton. On Saturday, he clarified that it was his 'subtle take' on increasing violence in the country in the name of cow protection.

Bose, in a tweet on Thursday, had said that Gandhi ji used to treat goats as cow and that Hindus should stop eating the animal's meat. "Gandhi ji used to stay in my grandfather-Sarat Chandra Bose's  house at 1 WoodburnPark 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 goats milk. Hindus stop eating goat's meat," he had written on the micro-blogging site.

On Saturday, he told news agency ANI that it was a sarcastic reaction to rising instances of lynchings in the name of cow protection. "One has to understand the subtlety of my tweet. The entire nation is shocked to see the kind of violence & lynching taking place right across the country," he said.

Not many though have comprehended the 'subtlety of the tweet.' Tripura governor  Tathagata Roy slammed Bose for his tweet. "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," wrote Roy on his own Twitter handle.

A flurry of exchanges ensued between Bose, a BJP party vice president for the state of West Bengal, and Roy on the matter.

And while the jury is still out on if the sarcasm was well intended, there is no denying that incidents of cow vigilantism has risen across the country with even Supreme Court taking a grim view of it.