It’s not unusual to have Indian ministers extolling the virtues of desi cattle over its foreign counterparts. But a minister in Haryana now says that foreign breeds of bulls even have loose character.
In a debate in the Assembly over the number of stray cattle in the state, Haryana animal husbandry and dairy minister Om Prakash Dhankar said that foreign bulls have character that is typical of the countries they come from.
“Jaisa wahan ke kai mulko mein character hai, waisa he inka character hai (The bulls have the same character of the countries they come from),” Dhankar told the Haryana Assembly reports The Times of India.
He claimed that bulls that are a mix of Indian and foreign breeds are more aggressive and mate with other animals like buffaloes also because they don’t have the character similar to local bulls.
“Foreign bulls are more aggressive, they violate more animals (buffaloes as well) because they don’t have the character similar to local bulls,” he said.
He reportedly said that they had begun to castrate these mixed breed bulls to prevent them from trying to mate.
But this is not the first instance where Dhankar has came up with a bizarre statement.
In April 2015, during the nationwide concern over farmer suicides, he had said that farmers who commit suicide are cowards.
“According to Indian law, suicide is a crime. A person who commits suicide runs away from his responsibilities. Such people are cowards and the government cannot stand by such cowards, such criminals,” he had then said.
(With inputs from PTI)