Moo, milk and makeover

 

 

Guess the secret of getting into the RSS’ good books. Cows. Nobody knows it better than the BJP brass, particularly the saffron Chief Ministers. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and successive Madhya Pradesh Chief Ministers Uma Bharati and Shivraj Singh Chauhan have been dangling the bovines before the RSS gurus to consolidate their positions in the state.

Raman Singh’s latest move in this direction is certainly innovative. He has decided to set up gaushalas (cow shelters) at Raipur Central Jail with 24 bovines. No, the Chief Minister is not exactly trying to set up dairy farms and boost dairy products in the state. Instead, Singh is playing the desi version of Brubaker (a movie where Robert Redford, in the title role, plays the role of a liberal prison warden) to reform the criminals behind the bars. These “sacred, innocent self-sacrificing animals, representing the divine mother”, as Singh describes them, are expected to soften hardcore criminals. The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister says, “Serving the cows will create sensitivity among the prisoners.” The Chief Minister points out, “Through prolonged interaction with the animals, the prisoners will develop their character and work towards integration into society.”

If only V. Shantaram and Dilip Kumar, in their respective blockbusters on prison reforms, Do Ankhen Bara Haath and Karma knew the trick, they could have reformed ruthless prisoners by simply making them cowherds.

But then that’s not the end of the tail (read tale). At the BJP headquarters, one can buy anything from cosmetics and lotions to cancer-curing pills made from bovine waste. The man running the souvenir shop claims, Go-ratnas (cow products) “sell like hot cakes”. Any takers?