Uttarakhand chief minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Thursday said that people who slaughter cows are India’s biggest enemies and that they “had no right to live in India”. PTI reported that Rawat said stern action should be taken against cow slaughterers, no matter which community they belong to, and that his state had already passed a proposal banning the act. He also said that the state would do everything possible towards protecting cow and that the state law would deal with those who killed the animal very sternly. Rawat was addressing a function in Haridwar, when he said that Uttarakhand was the only state which gives land for cowsheds and arranges for cow fodder. No Congress leaders have responded to Rawat’s remarks yet.

The Congress had earlier attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre on the issue cow slaughter, and had opposed beef bans.