Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked state governments to crackdown on cow vigilantes resorting to violence, Union Minister Ananth Kumar said after the all-party meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. Kumar said the prime minister has vowed strict action against people accused of committing acts of violence in the name of cow protection, ANI reported.

“There is an attempt to give communal colour to cow vigilantism and other incidents to politicise the matter, but it will not help the nation,” Kumar quoted Modi as saying. The Union Minister said the prime minister thanked all parties for their cooperation on the Goods and Services Tax rollout and described it as “an excellend example of cooperative federalism”.

“The cow is treated as a mother and it is an emotive issue,” Modi said in a series of tweets. “But we have to understand that there are laws governing cow protection and breaking it is not an alternative.”

The flood situation in the NorthEast as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s campaign against corruption was also discussed, Kumar told mediapersons.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee’s Trinamool Congress boycotted the meeting over a spat with the BJPJ about a Facebook post which led to communal violence in the state. Bihar Chief Minister’s Janata Dal (United) was remained absent from the meeting.

The Congress is believed to have questioned the Centre about the current stand-off with China, the situation in Kashmir and the spate of mob lynchings across the country.

The meeting was held a day before the start of Parliament’s monsoon session.