Karnataka MLA calls Kerala’s dire state punishment for ‘cow slaughtering’

The traumatic Kerala floods that claimed many lives and left the state bent on its knees was the punishment for slaughtering cows said a BJP MLA from neighbouring Karnataka on Sunday.

Basangouda Patil Yatnal in his outrageous comments on the devastating floods also said that the state was facing the consequences of “hurting the Hindu sentiments”.

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“Slaughtering cows is against the feelings of the Hindu community. One should not hurt the feelings of other religions. Now you see what happened to Kerala, they openly slaughtered cows and you see in less than one year they’ve come to this stage,” the former Union Minister was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Mr. Yatnal recently rejoined the BJP party after leaving it for Janta Dal in 2010.

“Whoever hurts the feelings of the Hindu community will be punished this way,” he added.

The 54-year-old in his strange way of connecting the floods to cow slaughtering was perhaps taking a dig at the beef-eating ceremony that was held in Kerala last year. The states’ legislators in their bid to protest against the central government’s order for banning cattle killing and trade has eaten beef in the canteen of the state assembly.

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This is however not the first time Yatnal has said something outrageous.

Just last month he was quoted saying by the Press Trust of India that if he were the home minister of Karnataka, he would have shot the intellectuals as they are “dangerous.”

Meanwhile, in June after he had won the election contesting from Vijaypur he had said at a party meeting that he would not work for the development of the Muslims.

“Hindus are the ones who ensured my win in the elections. I will work to develop the Hindu community, not the Muslims,” he had said then.

Over 350 lives have been lost in what remains the worst flood to have hit God’s own country in the last 80 years. Millions were also left homeless.