Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday brought up the topic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifting cows to a village in Rwanda during his recent visit to the African nation and mockingly said the state would start doing the same at weddings.

Ms Banerjee said, “I have heard that the PM is gifting cows. We should also start gifting cows at weddings.” The country has witnessed cow vigilantism in the recent months and the BJP has been blamed by opposition parties for it. An incident at Alwar in Rajasthan last week claimed one life.

Turning to BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, she said, “We could start by gifting one to you.” The Prime Minister had recently gifted around 200 locally sourced cows to a village in Rwanda, which he visited as part of a three-nation tour to Africa. The cows were gifted to support the ‘Girinka’ programme which mandates one cow for one poor family. The programme was initiated by Rwanda President Paul Kagame in 2006 to reduce poverty and tackle childhood malnutrition in the African country.

Mr Ghosh was singled out for attack by Ms Banerjee when he commented in the House that West Bengal lagged far behind states such as Andhra Pradesh in fish production.

He said that while in West Bengal, the sector had grown by a mere 20 per cent, in Andhra Pradesh it had grown by 133 per cent in the past 10 years.

Fish consumption is high in West Bengal and local production can hardly meet its demand. Fish is therefore bought in bulk from Andhra Pradesh and from neighbouring states.

Stating that fish consumption is part of the traditional food practice in West Bengal and there are more takers for it here compared to other states, she said Ghosh “should know the state well before making such remarks”.

“So what do you (Mr Ghosh) want to say? Will the poor stop eating fish? Or meat? Are you (BJP) giving such directions?” Ms Banerjee asked. Earlier, she lauded the fisheries department for its “remarkable job” in improving pisciculture in the state and meeting its supply deficit.

Ms Banerjee said that the state was working towards saving the transport cost of importing fishes from other states.

K09