PM Narendra Modi speaking at the centenary celebrations of Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, sends out a message to cow vigilantes: Killing people in the name of Gau Bhakti is not acceptable.

Excerpts from the speech.


-- Today I want to say a few words and express sadness on some of the things going on.

-- No one spoke about protecting cows more than Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Yes. It should be done


-- But you can't kill in the name of the cow. As a society, there is no place for violence.

--  We are a land of non violence. We can't kill in the name of the cow. We are the land of Mahatma Gandhi. Why do we forget that?

-- This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve of

-- Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi have the power to mitigate the challenges the world is facing today:

--  Swachhata has to become a Swabhav. What can be a greater tribute to Mahatma Gandhi than this?

But this is not the first time the PM has come out against gau rakshaks. In his first public denouncement of cow vigilantes, in August 2016, the PM said he felt enraged at such anti-social elements who indulged in crimes by the night and masqueraded as cow protectors by the day.

Amid the continuing outrage over the brutal flogging of four Dalit men by cow brigade members in Gujarat, the prime minister said real cow protectors do not terrorise people and that some criminal elements has opened shops in the name of cow protection.

To prevent violence in the name of cow protection, he urged state governments to prepare dossiers on such so-called cow protectors and put them on a tight leash.

I feel infuriated at some people who have opened shops in the name of cow protection. I have seen that some people who commit anti-social activities through the night, don the mantle of cow protectors by the day."