Holy Cow! Hinduism and Beef.

What was the first ever slogan you read as a kid?

For me it was — गाय हमारी माता है which translates to “Holy cow is our mother.”

In every religion, mother is allegorical to God. In Hinduism, Cow slaughter is shunned due to its association with lord Krishna.

Today the most trending hashtag on twitter is #WeLoveBeef

After the dethrone of INC in 2014, a pro-Hindu government came into power with a promise to escalate Hindus in societal stature. Beef politics became bigger and powerful after this. As beef is related to the religious sentiments, Hindus were griped in the narrative of Beef ban and soon after it gave birth to serious crime like mob lynching.

On 26 May 2017, the Ministry of Environment of Indian Central Government led by Bharatiya Janata Party imposed a ban on the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at animal markets across India, under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals statutes.

Some of the Non vegetarian segments of society argued that this ban is nit democratic and should be lifted. People from the Tamilnadu had a specific resentment regarding this ban as beef is a part of their culture.

Cow slaughter is banned in 20 states of india. Kerala, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and West Bengal are the states where there are no restrictions on cow slaughter. While judiciary system has left this matter to the states, some people claimed to be rebel after the ban on beef was imposed and started consuming beef thereafter.

Recently a 24YO(Tamilnadu) decided to flaunt his beef soup on social media and was thrashed brutally with wooden logs and iron rods.

What a rage?

Such incidents question the sanity of people. While the state has legislation against cow slaughter, what was the need to thrash a man? The thing is that people don’t respect the judiciary system. Blame it on the delayed justice or self entitled goons, people don’t respect the system.

Trust and Respect Have to Be Earned, Even by Our Judges.

But the real issue isn’t in disrespectful glance towards judiciary, what amazes me the most is “selective religious beliefs”.

We puff our chests when discussing beef ban but nobody cares if an old and sick cow dies after being abandoned by her owner.

Isn’t it our responsibility to make sure cows live respectfully too?

Several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, have formed laws to penalise such abandonment too.

Stray cattle has become a menace in villages as well as towns in several areas, to the extent that some states have taken to levying cess to put them in shelters.

The roads have become equally unsafe for cows and humans.

We need to introspect this as well.