New Delhi: A video of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Maneka Gandhi has gone viral, in which she says that the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is the "biggest cheat in the country and it sells cows from its gaushalas (cowsheds) to the butchers".
"ISKCON establishes gaushalas and earns unlimited benefits for the same from the government, in the form of huge lands," the former Union Minister and an animal rights activist is heard saying in the video widely shared on the internet.
"I recently visited their Anantapur Gaushala (in Andhra Pradesh) and did not find even a single cow in good condition there," Gandhi said.
"There were no calves in the Gaushala, which means all of them were sold off," she alleged.
“ISKCON is selling all its cows to the butchers and no one else does this more than them. They are the ones who roam on the road chanting 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' and say their entire life is dependent on milk," Gandhi was heard saying in the video, in a scathing attack on the religious organisation.
However, ISKCON rejected Maneka Gandhi's allegations as "unsubstantiated and false" and said they were "surprised" by the statements of the former Union Minister.
"ISKCON has pioneered cow protection in many parts of the world where beef is a staple diet," ISKCON's national spokesperson Yudhistir Govinda Das said in the statement.
"Many of the cows presently served in ISKCON's goshalas were brought to us after being abandoned, injured, or rescued from being slaughtered," the statement added.
Later, in a video, ISKCON Public Relations Officer (PRO) Radharaman Das released a video, wherein he condemned Maneka Gandhi for her remarks and demanded proof supporting her statements.
The ISKCON PRO also claimed that Maneka Gandhi did not visit the Anantapur Gaushala as the staff working there said they did not have information about her visit.
Further, the ISKCON PRO also urged Maneka Gandhi to present a video of the Gaushala she claims to be in a miserable state.
ISKCON, popularly known as the Hare Krishna Movement, serves to "systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world," its website states.