On 2nd April 2023, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Maneka Gandhi advised farmers and rural people to make soaps from the milk of donkeys and goats. She made this statement as she referred to donkeys going extinct because they are irrelevant in modern times. She was addressing a public meeting at Baldirai of Sultanpur – her Lok Sabha constituency.
Maneka Gandhi said, “There is a group of people in Ladakh. They noticed that the number of donkeys is reducing. Tell me for the last how many days you haven’t seen a donkey? Their number is reduced. They have gone. A washerman’s job is also extinct now. Washermen don’t need donkeys anymore. Where will donkeys go then? But these people started milking these donkeys. They made soaps using the donkey’s milk. It is believed that the soap made with donkey’s milk is very useful to maintain the beauty of a woman.”
Maneka Gandhi added, “There was a famous queen abroad called Cleopatra. She used to bathe with donkey’s milk. So those soaps made with donkey’s milk are being sold in Delhi at a rate of Rs 500 each. Why should not we make soap from goat’s milk or donkey’s milk? We shall choose a thing that can be done easily and comfortably.”
Maneka Gandhi advised people to make and sell cow dung cakes. She said, “The trees are disappearing. Wood has become so expensive that even when a man dies, he makes his entire family poor. It takes wood worth 15-20 thousand rupees for cremation. It is better that we make long pellets of cow dung, and add aromatic ingredients to them. There should be an order that whoever dies will be cremated with cow dung. The rituals will then cost around Rs 1500 to 2000. These dung logs will be sold in millions”
Maneka Gandhi said, “I don’t want you to make money on animals. No one has become rich to date, raising goats and cows. There will be hardly 3 doctors among 25 lakh people in the whole of Sultanpur. Sometimes not even that. The cow is sick, the buffalo is ill, the goat is ill, and millions of rupees are lost there. That is why I am strongly against anyone going for goat-rearing or cow-rearing. It takes several years to train veterinarians. Then cattle also get stolen. “
