After demanding that cow be declared as the national animal, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Monday went a step ahead and sought public opinion on the issue on a social networking website.
Vij on Monday posted on Twitter, “What should be our National AnimalIJ Cow or Tiger” and provided a platform for public voting on the issue.
The tweet, which was posted in the afternoon, received more than 400 votes
within few hours and more than 88 per cent chose cow as national animal.
Amid the politics on cow slaughter, the Minister had last week asked the Centre to declare cow as the national animal and said that he would send a request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard.
Vij, the outspoken five-time MlA from Ambala Cantt, had also tweeted, “Declare Cow as National Animal of India instead of Royal Bengal tiger”. His tweet had come bang in the middle of a raging controversy over cow slaughter, beef ban in various states and the killing of a Muslim man in Dadri area of western Uttar Pradesh two weeks back over allegations that he had eaten beef.
Anil Vij is a senior minister in the first Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana, which came to power in October last year after assembly polls.
He has more than ten thousand followers on Twitter. The Minister is the most active of all Haryana ministers and quite popular with his action-oriented style of functioning and speaking out openly what is on his mind.
Notably, the BJP Government in Haryana had announced a complete ban on sale of beef in any form in the state in March.
For the “protection and upkeep” of cows, Haryana Assembly had passed a Bill which clamps a complete ban on cow slaughter in the state and provides for a rigorous imprisonment ranging from three years to ten years for killing the animal. Haryana ‘Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan’ Bill, 2015, which also provides for a fine from Rs30,000 to Rs1 lakh, was passed by the Assembly on March 16.
Since the BJP came to power in the state, Vij’s surprise visits at government hospitals and clinics in recent months have put the Health Department on its toes. He has “raided” other offices, including police stations, too.
The Minister is also well-known for his no-holds barred comments on the Twitter and otherwise, including on his own Government and colleagues. In the last few months, he has even left his own Government and Chief Minister Manohar lal
Khattar embarrassed with his comments.
A veteran and well-known BJP leader who represents the Ambala assembly constituency, Vij was one of the top contenders for the Chief Minister’s post in October last year when the BJP came to power on its own in Haryana for the first time.