India’s middle class gated communities should keep their own cow herds with cows from India, Shankar Lal, leader of an influential Hindu nationalist group, says

Milk from Jersey cows may make children turn to crime, allegedly

Milk from Jersey cows may make children turn to crime, allegedly Photo: Alamy

The Jersey cow may seem like a cute symbol of the British countryside, but according to Hindu nationalists in India it is a demonic creature and the cause of juvenile crime.

The claim was made by a leading figure in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the influential Hindu nationalist group which counts Narendra Modi, the prime minister, among its members. Mr Modi was educated by the group as a child and entered politics with its support.

The group has successfully lobbied for the slaughter of cows for beef to be banned in some parts of India because it offends higher caste Hindus who worship them as a source of life.

It also promotes the use of cow dung as antiseptic flooring, bovine biogas as fuel, and its urine as a ‘cola’ health drink.

Now it has launched a campaign to persuade India‘s middle class gated communities to keep their own cow herds.


A bull revered by Hindus with colourful painted horns & decorations near the beaches of Mumbai

According to the RSS’s cow protection section, the move would improve the condition of the animals, which often roam the streets and eat plastic waste, and also provide milk and medicines. It would also teach children the importance of the animal in sustaining life.

They must, however, be “virtuous” Indian breeds and not Jersey cows if they do not want their children to turn to crime, the group’s leader Shankar Lal said.

Indian cows are saatvik, he explained – virtuous or pure – and drinking their milk not only increases consumers’ productivity but produces no evil thoughts.

By contrast, the Jersey cow, has “devil in the milk, poisonous particles”, he said.

It’s not clear it is a cow at all but “some kind of an animal which makes you think impure thoughts and do wrong deeds [which] results in increase in crimes”, he added.

Jersey cows were first imported into India during the British Raj for cross breeding with Indian varieties to improve the quality of milk.

Today many cows In INdia are some way below pure – they are left to roam busy roads and survive on rubbish dumped on the streets.

Their milk has been contaminated by a scavenger diet of plastic bags and paper. Much of it is also adulterated, official studies have established.

Tests by the Uttar Pradesh government in 2012 found a quarter of 4,500 samples contained detergent, artificial whiteners and starch.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/11561612/Drinking-milk-from-non-Indian-cows-could-make-children-turn-to-crime.html