THE coming to power of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal, after the machinations of the Election Commission and overlooked by the judiciary, has created a major scare amongst the Muslim minority of the state. The government has started to erect detention centres in every district to house alleged infiltrators from Bangladesh and has decided to construct a big memorial for Chatrapati Maharaj, amongst other things. Some things that have put the Hindu population of the state to great discomfort are related to the sustained campaign to lynch Muslims in the name of cow-beef.
During the ongoing Bakrid festivities, the Hindus had come to sell their cows and bulls. To their horror, there are no buyers for the cow progeny. Muslims have collectively decided not to sacrifice these animals for. Starting from the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Maulana Arshad Madani, to politicians like Asaduddin Owaisi, most leaders of the Muslim community are demanding that the cow be declared the national animal, replacing the tiger.
In the markets, the Muslims are telling Hindus, who have brought the cow progeny for sale, that it is your mother, keep them at home. Many poor peasants rear these animals for sale on the occasion of Eid so that they can get a good price for the animal and sustain their livelihood. They are feeling disappointed and dejected as their calculations and aspirations are going for a toss. We have witnessed massive lynchings of Muslims, more so during the last 12 years, in the name of cow-beef. Starting from Mohammad Akhlaq to Mohammad Junaid, there have been over 100 lynchings during the last few years. IndiaSpend data tells us that during 2014 to 2018, 46 Muslims and Dalits were killed in cow-related violence.
One recalls that in Gujarat’s Una, four Dalits carrying dead cows for deskinning were mercilessly flogged. After this, young Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani campaigned for stopping cow-related trade and demanded that Dalits be allotted their lands. The atmosphere created by cow vigilantes, well protected by those in power and theoretically supported by the RSS combine, has been frightening. Some of the Acharyas went to the extent of saying that the value of one cow’s life is more than the lives of many human beings. Cow-related products were promoted by Baba Ramdev, who is making hay by selling cow urine. Sambit Patra, the ubiquitous spokesperson of the BJP, went on to state that cow dung is more valuable than even a diamond. Incidentally, he is a trained postgraduate in modern medicine.
Another professor in Gujarat has conducted very enlightening research that suggests cow urine contains gold. What a relief to hear this in times when gold prices are touching the roof! Back to the Muslim community’s collective decision, the losers are the poor Hindu farmers in the game of identity politics. Let’s see whether the Hindutva government takes the holy decision of declaring her as the national animal. In that case, another set of losers will prop up the many non-Muslim businessmen who run the beef exporting enterprises. The main exporters of beef belong to the elite Hindu and Jain communities. The Al-Kabeer Exports Pvt. Ltd. is one of the largest meat and beef processors in India, operating a massive slaughterhouse in Telangana. It is widely reported as being owned by the Sabharwal family. Arabian Exports is a major Mumbai-based meat exporter, historically owned and managed by the Sunil Kapoor family. MKR Frozen Food Exports is headquartered in New Delhi with slaughterhouses in Punjab. It is managed by Madan Abbott. PML Industries is headquartered in Chandigarh and owned by AS Bindra family. There are several other companies owned and run by influential Hindus.
Apart from this, eating non-vegetarian food is also looked down upon. We know the wide prevalence of beef eating in Goa, North East and Kerala. India’s 77% (roughly) population eats non-vegetarian food (Overall Prevalence: About 77% of Indians (83.4% of men and 70.6% of women) consume meat, fish, or chicken regularly.). Fish in coastal areas, chicken, mutton etc. in many more places. Many people assert that Brahmins don’t eat non-vegetarian food. The mutton dishes of Kashmiri Pundits are a delight to behold (The crown jewel of Kashmiri cuisine, Rogan Josh is an intensely aromatic mutton curry). While Brahmins in Bihar also consume mutton in particular, among others.
Anyway, facts are so diverse from the popular perceptions, which are spread deliberately. This is meant to project that Muslims are primarily meat eaters and are violent. In Bengal poll campaigning, Mamata Banerjee maintained that under the BJP rule Maach Bhaat (Fish-Rice), the favourite Bengali cuisine, will become difficult to get. In response, Anurag Thakur, the BJP leader infamous for his ‘Goli maro’ slogan, went on to circulate his video, consuming Maach-Bhaat and saying that in BJP-ruled states, there is no restriction on eating non-vegetarian food. Food identity as an election issue was highlighted when in a well-advertised video, our non-biological prime minister consumed Jhal Moodi (A local rice-based snack) to show solidarity with the people of Bengal.
Where have we come to in our political campaigns, in trying to spread hate against vulnerable minorities? The West Bengal experience shows the depths to which sectarian politics can fall for electoral gains. Not only the Election Commission but the popular common sense has been corrupted to the core. As the minorities are writhing in pain and deprivation, the leaders of communal politics are making merry with Jhal Moodi and Maach-Bhaat at the same time propagating the absurd correlation between the violent tendencies and food habits. One recalls the person who imposed the biggest genocide in human history, Adolf Hitler, had turned vegetarian in the latter part of his life.
In the din of massive manipulated victories these Hindutva politicians also forget that Swami Vivekanand in his lecture in US, (At the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, February 2, 1900) on the theme of ‘Buddhistic India’, had declared: “You will be astonished if I tell you that, according to old ceremonials, he is not a good Hindu who does not eat beef. On certain occasions, he must sacrifice a bull and eat it.” [Vivekananda, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, vol. 3 (Calcutta: Advaita Ashram, 1997), p. 536.]
To cap it all, the progenitor of Hindu nationalism, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had declared that the cow is not a holy animal; it is a useful animal!
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Ram Puniyani is an eminent author, activist and former professor of IIT Mumbai. The views expressed here are the author’s personal and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them.
