Floods In Kerala Punishment For Cow Killing, Says Karnataka BJP Lawmaker

The devastating floods in Kerala are the result of cow slaughter in the state, a BJP lawmaker in neighbouring Karnataka has said in an outrageous comment. Basangouda Patil Yatnal went as far as to say that Kerala was suffering the consequences of "hurting Hindu sentiment".

Nearly 300 people have died and lakhs displaced in Kerala's worst floods in a century, caused by days of torrential rain.

Mr Yatnal, a former union minister, bizarrely connected the massive crisis to cow slaughter.

"Slaughtering cows is against the feelings of the Hindu community. One should not hurt the feelings of other religions. Now you see what happened to Kerala, they openly slaughtered cows and you see in less than one year they've come to this stage," he said.

"Whoever hurts the feelings of the Hindu community will be punished this way."

He was referring to a beef festival that was held about a year ago by Kerala legislators in the state assembly canteen to protest against a central government order banning cattle killing and trade.

The politician is notorious for shooting his mouth off.

Last month, he had said if he were home minister of Karnataka, he would have had intellectuals shot as they were "dangerous".

In June, just after the Karnataka election, he had said at a meeting of his party workers that the BJP should not work for the development of Muslims as they had not voted for the party. 

"Hindus are the ones who ensured my win in the elections. I will work to develop the Hindu community, not the Muslims," he said, according to the Press Trust of India.

Mr Yatnal, who had quit the BJP a few years ago, made a comeback just before the Karnataka polls.

(With inputs from PTI)

(Kerala has to rebuild itself after the worst floods in over a century. Hundreds have died and lakhs are homeless. Here is how you can help.)