Adityanath Recalls Bull That Entered SP-BSP Rally, Says Nandi Had Gone to Hurt 'Friends of Butchers'

New Delhi: Weeks after the incident of a charging bull kicked up a literal storm at a Mahagathbandhan rally in Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj, CM Yogi Adityanath recalled the scene in a jibe against his political rivals.

The Chief Minister said that the animal had gone to teach a lesson to those who are "friends of butchers".

"Nandi (the bull in Hindu mythology that serves as Shiva's mount) went to a mahagathbandhan rally to teach the 'friends of butchers' a lesson. But I told Nandi baba to spare them because the Model Code of Conduct is still in place due to the elections... it can continue its work after the polls," news agency ANI quoted him as saying at a rally in Kushinagar district on Monday.

Anti-cow slaughter laws in the state have been strengthened since Adityanath took up the mantle of CM. This has constantly drawn the ire of opposition parties, who say the move was only done to encourage vigilante violence.

It has also been criticised for flooding the state with stray cattle.

Following the rally in Kannauj, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had also quipped saying that the bull had just come to "air its grievances". "It probably thought that a helicopter from Hardoi is coming...It had come with its own set of complaints," Yadav had said.