Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally broke his silence on recent incidents of cow protection-related lynchings+ and violence, saying on Thursday he was “sad” they happened and that “killing in the name of cow worship is not acceptable”.

“No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands in this country,” Modi said.

Modi said that protecting cows “should be done” and that “no one spoke about protecting cows more than Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya”.

He added though that Gandhi wouldn’t approve of killing people to protect cows.

“Killing people in the name of Gau Bhakti is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve of,” the PM said in an address in Ahmedabad.

“We are a land of non violence. We are the land of Mahatma Gandhi. Why do we forget that…As a society, there is no place for violence. Violence never has and never will solve any problem:,” Modi said.