BJP holds massive protest against Ashok Gehlot's Rajasthan govt over lumpy skin disease

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday (September 20, 2022) held a massive protest against the Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government over the death of thousands of cattle due to the Lumpy skin disease. The protest was also staged to highlight various other raging issues like increased electricity rates and power cuts, unemployment, worsening law and order, fake farmer loan waiver promises, etc.

The protest in the state capital Jaipur was led by Rajasthan BJP chief Satish Poonia. Hundreds of party workers marched from the BJP office to the Rajasthan Assembly but were stopped by the police on Sahakar Marg.

They, however, then clashed with cops and also broke the police barricade.

Poonia himself climbed the barricade but was pushed back by the policemen.

#WATCH | A huge crowd of BJP members gather in protest in Rajasthan's Jaipur over the death of thousands of cattle in the state due to lumpy skin disease pic.twitter.com/8WpMtW3n1O

— ANI (@ANI) September 20, 2022

The development comes a day after a BJP legislator on Monday brought a cow outside the Rajasthan assembly premises to draw state government's attention towards the lumpy skin disease. 

Holding a stick in his hand, BJP MLA from Pushkar assembly constituency Suresh Singh Rawat told reporters that cows are suffering from lumpy skin disease but the state government is in a deep slumber.

"To draw attention towards lumpy disease, I brought a cow to the Vidhan Sabha (campus)," Rawat said.

राजस्थान विधानसभा के आज आरंभ हुए सत्र में सम्मिलित होने से पूर्व लम्पी वायरस से गायों की हो रही मौत, मृत गोधन के शरीरों की दुर्दशा और सरकार एवं प्रशासन की कुंभकर्णी नींद के प्रति सरकार का ध्यान आकर्षित करने हेतु गाय और गोपालक के साथ विधानसभा पहुंचा। pic.twitter.com/okVZ0oFuSx — Suresh Singh Rawat (@SureshRawatIN) September 19, 2022

Before the session started, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told reporters that the central government should declare lumpy disease as a national calamity.

He said, "Our priority is how to save the lives of cows from lumpy skin disease. The Centre has to give the vaccine and medicines, so in such a situation we are demanding the Centre to declare it a national calamity."

According to the latest reports, the Lumpy skin disease has affected over 16 lakh cattle in more than a dozen states, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh. The viral disease has also killed over 75,000 cattle across India between July and September 11.

LSD is a contagious viral disease that affects cattle and causes fever, and nodules on the skin and can also lead to death. The disease gets spread by mosquitoes, flies, lice, and wasps by direct contact among the cattle, and through contaminated food and water.

The Centre has said that the goat pox vaccine, currently being administered on cattle to control the LSD, is 100 per cent effective. Two institutes of agri research body ICAR have developed a new vaccine 'Lumpi-ProVacInd' for the LSD, but it has not been commercially launched.

(With agency inputs)