New Delhi: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has sent a Rs 100-crore defamation notice to BJP MP Maneka Gandhi for saying that the religious organisation sells cows to butchers for slaughter.
Terming her allegations as “completely unfounded”, ISKCON said the devotees were “deeply pained” by the Sultanpur MP’s remarks.
“Today we have sent a Rs 100 crore defamation notice to Maneka Gandhi for levelling completely unfounded allegations against ISKCON. The worldwide community of ISKCON devotees, supporters, and well-wishers are deeply pained by these defamatory, slanderous, and malicious accusations. We will not leave any stone unturned in our pursuit of justice against the fallacious propaganda against ISKCON,” ISKCON Kolkata vice-president Radharaman Das said.
A video of Maneka recently went viral in which she can be heard saying that ISKCON is the “biggest cheat in the country, which sells cows from its gaushalas (cowsheds) to butchers.”
Accusing ISKCON of establishing gaushalas and earning “unlimited benefits” from the government in the form of vast lands, Maneka said she recently visited an ISKCON gaushala in Andhra Pradesh and did not find “even a single cow in good condition” there.
“There were no calves in the gaushala, which means all of them were sold off,” Maneka alleged.
ISKCON strongly refuted Maneka’s allegations and called them “unsubstantiated and false.”
