ISKCON sends Rs 100 crore defamation notice to BJP Maneka Gandhi

Days after Maneka Gandhi called them the “biggest cheat in India”, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) sent a Rs 100 crore defamation notice to the BJP MP on Friday. Maneka Gandhi, in an undated video that went viral on Monday, was heard accusing the organisation of selling cows to butchers.

"Today, we have sent a ₹ 100-crore defamation notice to Maneka Gandhi for leveling completely unfounded allegations against ISKCON," its vice-president Radharamn Das said in a statement. ISKCON had previously called statements of the former BJP Union minister “unsubstantiated and false”. The religious organisation has claimed the statements of Maneka Gandhi have hurt the sentiments of their worldwide community. “Our devotees are deeply pained by such allegations which are nothing short of malicious accusations,” said Radharamn Das.

Maneka Gandhi’s remarks stoked a massive storm both in political and religious circles. She was heard referring to her experience of visiting a gausala of ISKCON in Anantpur where she hadn’t found a single dry cow. “Not a single dry cow in the entire dairy I found in Anantpur. Not a single calf was there. It means all were sold. Probably, no one has sold as many cattle to the butchers as ISKCON did…ISKCON is the biggest cheat in the country. It maintains gaushalas and gets all the benefits from the government, including vast lands,” Maneka Gandhi was heard alleging in that video.