COW SLAUGHTER
Amrit Dhillon and N.K. Singh on Cow Slaughter
According to Hindu tradition, if you give a cow to a Brahmin when a relative dies, it enables the dead person to cross the gigantic Vaitarni river that separates earth from heaven by hanging on to the cow's tail. The Sangh brotherhood hopes that its planned campaign against cow slaughter will help build up the steam to propel it from the opposition benches to the government side.
The language being used, however, is less than spiritual. "We shall cut the heads of those who shed a single drop of cow's blood," threatened a sadhu during a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) rally at Ramtek near Nagpur last October. "The blood of cows has polluted every river," thundered VHP leader Ashok Singhal.
The agenda is clear. Says its president, Vishnu Hari Dalmia: "We hope this agitation affects the elections." Realizing that it can't extract many more votes from under the rubble of the Babari Masjid, and gasping for the oxygen of communal confrontation, the Sangh brotherhood will be pushing the emotive question of cow and animal slaughter from January 21 with a convention at Allahabad, where one lakh volunteers will be brought together by the Bajrang Dal (the VHP's stormtroopers) for 'training' in the prevention of cow slaughter.
The methods to be used are not exactly a model of ahimsa. Cow slaughter is to be prevented "at any cost" and violence has not been ruled out. "Anything may happen. It will be a fight to the finish," says Singhal. The choice of the Bajrang Dal for organizing the campaign is as ominous as the potential for conflict is immense. The "trainees will form teams to stop cows being taken to slaughterhouses a list of which has been prepared snatching startled cows on the way if necessary. One hundred jeeps will roam the country as Gau Raksha Raths (cow-protection chariots) to detect cow slaughter.
The reaction of the Congress (1) has been somewhat ambivalent. Many Congressmen share the belief that the cow should be protected, but condemn the agitation. The Lett believes the VHP/BJP should remember that beef is an important source of protein for the poor. None of the anti-cow slaughter agitations in the past has ever picked up momentum. But the Sangh brotherhood is hoping that the latest one will succeed in whipping up public support.
It is true that there is a growing public awareness of the need to minimize the suffering of animals destined for the abattoir, and to ensure that the way they are transported and the manner in which they are killed are humane. The obvious way to do this is to modernize the country's abattoirs, giving them the space and the equipment to kill animals in hygienic conditions - and, in the process, provide consumers with clean meat.
These considerations, however, are not part of the Sangh's brotherhood's agenda. Its concentration on emotion is understandable given how the facts undermine its claims. It says the country's cattle population (cows, bullocks and buffaloes) is falling. Actually, India has the largest cattle population in the world. In 1982 the figure stood at 262.2 million. In 1987 it was 272 million. The figure for 1992 are still being collated by the Ministry of Agriculture, but officials say there are no signs of a fall. Rather a small rise is expected.
What the Sangh brotherhood ignores is the brute reality of the countryside. The Green Revolution and the greater use of tractors have meant that a section of farmers no longer need to use bullocks or male buffaloes for cultivation. Moreover, survival dictates that if a cow no longer gives milk and the farmer can't afford to feed it, he will sell it to a middleman. Or, as frequently happens, he lets it starve and saves scarce fodder for his more productive animals. Hindu sentiment is sometimes strong enough to prevent him from selling the cow for slaughter, but never strong enough to make him feed a creature of no use to him.
Land is finite. As humans and animals compete for resources there will be less fodder for cattle, which is why in 1976 the National Commission of Agriculture recommended that "low-producing stock should be progressively eliminated so that the limited feed and fodder resources are available for the proper feeding of high-producing animals." Lack of adequate fodder is one reason why so much Indian cattle is scrawny, gives low yields of milk and produces poor progeny. Basically, its genetic quality has degenerated owing to lack of food. As long ago as 1955, an expert committee on cattle said in its report: "The scientific development of cattle means the culling of useless animals by banning slaughter the worthless animals will multiply and deprive the more productive animals of any chance of development."
So, on the one hand, logic dictates that uneconomic cattle should be slaughtered. On the other, there is a demand for meat by Indians which is difficult to legislate away. The false notion of Hindus as a homogeneous monolith was an idea the Sangh brotherhood tried to impose during the temple agitation. Now it is seeking to impose its version of correct Hindu eating habits.
Most Indians eat meat. A 1992 National Food Survey by the Indian Market Research Bureau showed that 74 per cent of urban households eat meat. Only 22 per cent were vegetarian. And in addition to Muslims and Christians, a section of Hindus, particularly in Kerala, also eat beef, besides the tribals and some SCs. And if they eat beef, one reason is that it is cheaper than mutton, invariably costing half the price.
The fact that Indians eat meat explains why previous anti-cow-slaughter agitations have fizzled out.
Sociologist Ashis Nandy believes this one will fail too
The public's demand for meat has ensured that there has always been a supply of cows for slaughter - despite the ban that exists on it in most regions, with the caption of the North-east, Kerala and West Bengal. Ether they are killed illegally or are smuggled to states where there is no ban. It's estimated, for example, that one million heads of cattle are taken from the southern Hates to Kerala every year for slaughter. So the laws exist an paper because they disregard people's eating Muslim dominated villages in eastern Uttar Pradesh were terrorized under the BJP government by, the lodging of FIRS false accusing the residents of cow slaughter. "You have a law in Delhi banning cow slaughter but no action to deal with the cows roaming in the streets"
In the pursuit of religious propaganda for the sake of votes, statistics are dismissed. The VHP refuses to believe that cattle are not dwindling and does not explain how farmers will go on feeding unproductive animals. Nor does it say how it will dissuade people from eating meat.
Its only solution to all these questions is to say that it will provide gaushalas (homes for cows) for unwanted cows and bullocks. Yet the 3,600-odd gaushalas in the country are in dismal state, with pressure on the land forcing local villagers to take over the area intended for cattle. Even the best run gaushalas are no viable solution when you consider how many thousands of acres would be required to house all the surplus cattle in India. Most countries with large bovine populations attempt to have a coherent animal-husbandry policy. The Sangh brotherhood's idea of animal husbandry is... a crude exploitation, for the sake of votes, of (the) feeling of affection and veneration for the animal amongst most Hindus.
(Source: The India Today, 31 January, 1996)
K.S. Dakshina Murthy on Conversion of Tribals
For the last one-and-a-half years, insidious attempts are on to convert thousands of primitive, food- gathering tribals in Mysore and Kodagu districts into either Christians or Hindus.
Spearheaded mainly by Christian missionary groups using the front of developmental agencies and Hindu voluntary organisations, the efforts are apparently aimed at converting the estimated three lakh tribals, who dominate the dense forest areas and their periphery in the region.
Until now however, the attempts at conversion have met with limited success as the efforts have evoked hostile resistance from the tribal leadership which has orally communicated to its people that those converted must leave their hamlets at once and never return.
A senior tribal activist told this correspondent that the efforts at conversion wee systematic and well-planned with no moves to roll back the attempts despite protests by the yajamanas (tribal heads).
Interestingly, the tribals consider themselves "native worshippers" with their own gods and customs which fall outside the purview of any religion, including Hinduism. In tribal lore, the traditions and culture of the tribals date back to 50,000 years with the present generation in no mood to give up their spiritual autonomy.
With the situation hotting up in recent weeks, the district administration has ordered an enquiry into the issue of conversions. The church groups have taken the stand that "whoever comes voluntarily, we will convert them".
The Vanavasi Kalyana Sangha, an RSS-backed Hindu organization, has been trying to woo the tribals into the Hindu fold.
But its attempts have been temporarily stymied following displeasure expressed by the State BJP leadership which has informally initiated an enquiry into the complaints of conversion by the Vanavasi Kalyana Sangha. In the BJP view, the tribals anyway belong to Hinduism and there is no need for any conversion.
In view of the tribal leadership, spiritual rights are guaranteed under the Constitution and no encouragement must be given to organizations that are attempting to breed what they call "a monoculture religion", in the process destroying plurality of cultures.
Further, the tribals fear that if they are psychologically weakened and lose faith in their own culture they would become second-class citizens in another religion.
(Source: The Hindustan Times, 22 January, 1996)
