‘ISKCON biggest cheater, sells cows to butchers,’ says Maneka Gandhi; ISKCON responds 

In a video that has now gone viral, BJP MP Maneka Gandhi has called International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) the “biggest cheater in the country” for running gaushalas, receiving benefits from the government, and in turn selling off the cows to butchers. ISKCON has responded to her comments, calling them “unsubstantiated and false”. 

Gandhi can be seen saying in the video: “The biggest cheater in the country is ISKCON. They establish gaushalas and get unlimited benefits from the government to run the said gaushalas. They get huge lands and everything. I just visited their Anantpur gaushala. They didn’t have even one dry cow, all were dairy cows. They didn’t have a single calf. It means that they sold all of them. ISKCON is selling all its cows to the butchers. The amount of cheating they do, no one else does.” 

“And then they are the ones who sing ‘Hare Ram, Hare Krishna’ on the streets. They claim their life is dependent on milk. Probably no one has sold the amount of cows they have sold to butchers. If they can do it, what about others?” said Maneka Gandhi in the video. 

ISKCON responded to Maneka Gandhi’s claims and said they were surprised by her statements. “Smt. Gandhi is a well-known animal rights activist and well-wisher of ISKCON hence we are surprised by these statements,” said ISKCON’s national spokesperson Yudhistir Govinda Das, who also put out statements from various veterinary doctors and MPs and MLAs. 

The statement added that ISKCON has “pioneered cow protection in many parts of the world where beef is a staple diet”. It said the society runs over 60 gaushalas in India and protects “hundreds of sacred cows and bulls”. ISKCON is also running training programmes for farmers and rural households on cow care techniques. Several of the gaushalas they run have been lauded and recognised for their high cow-care standards, they said. 

Das shared a letter by a veterinary doctor who said he was pleased to see the ISKCON’s respect for cows. He said he continued his free service to the Anantpur gaushala till he was transferred to a nearby village. 

MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy had also in a letter stated that ISKCON provides shelter to cows as part of their gaushala programme. MP Dr Talari Rangaiah said he believed that ISKCON would be the “right one to support the cause of saving cattle from ‘trafficking’.”

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