Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stern warning to cow vigilantes and his advice to state governments to firmly deal with anti-socials masquerading as cow protectors could not have come at a more appropriate moment. The spate of violent incidents in some states in the name of cow protection has the potential to besmirch India’s image as a tolerant nation that is at peace with its plurality and proud of its democratic traditions.
In his recent speeches, the Prime Minister said that he felt very angry with anti-socials who had turned cow protection into a “business”. He urged state governments to identify these fake vigilantes who were creating tensions in society and take stern action against them. In regard to the larger responsibility of the Indian State, Modi has made it clear that it stands committed to protect the country’s unity and integrity. The Prime Minister’s intervention comes in the wake of reports that in Gujarat, four Dalits were tied to a car and publicly beaten by hooligans on the charge that they were skinning a cow. This was followed by a similar assault in Lucknow on Dalits for an identical reason. The victims are usually contractual employees of municipalities, hired to remove carcasses of dead animals and to skin dead cows. Shockingly, even after Modi’s warning, another incident of a similar nature was reported from Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh when a gang of alleged cow protectors tied two Dalit brothers to a tree and thrashed them for skinning a dead cow.
No Indian has expressed his opposition to cow slaughter more compellingly than Mahatma Gandhi. However, he abhorred any attempt to stop this practice through violence. He felt the world must be converted to the idea that cow slaughter was bad, but no man should be killed to protest against this practice. He wrote way back in 1921 in Young India: ‘I would not kill a human being for protection of a cow, as I will not kill a cow for saving a human life, be it ever so precious”. We must remember Gandhiji’s diktat in the present times, when misguided people think that they can save the cow via violence.
This has never worked and will not work at this juncture too. The only panacea to the conflict over cow slaughter is persuasion. This was Gandhiji’s mool mantra for resolving problems in a democratic way. Indians who take pride in being citizens of not just the largest and most vibrant democracy in the world but of the land of Gandhi, should never lose sight of this. As far as the law on the subject is concerned, it begins with Article 48 of the Constitution in the Chapter dealing with Directive Principles of State Policy. It says: “Organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry: The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle”.
This article mandates the Indian state to work towards prohibition of cow slaughter. But the power to make law in this regard is vested by the Constitution in the states. Entry 15 in the State List in the Seventh Schedule gives the states the power to legislate on “Preservation, protection and improvement of stock and prevention of animal diseases; veterinary training and practice”.
Most of the states have used this power to bring in laws to prohibit cow slaughter. As many as 24 of the 29 states have laws prohibiting cow slaughter totally or partially. The Supreme Court has, in principle, upheld laws that prohibit cow slaughter in pursuance of the direction issued to the Indian State in Article 48. In 2005, a seven-judge Bench of the apex court upheld the constitutional validity of a Gujarat law which imposed a complete ban on slaughtering of bulls and bullocks. The following year, a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court once again upheld the validity of laws made by states to prohibit slaughter of cattle.
Although an overwhelming majority of the states have legislated against cow slaughter with the backing of the two national political parties and the Supreme Court has upheld the validity of laws aimed at fulfilling the mandate given by the Directive Principles of State Policy, mischief-makers are constantly on the prowl to foment trouble.
Pseudo-secularists and secular fundamentalists, who perceive the fundamental right to eat beef to be more important than social harmony and the enforcement of Article 48, are given to egging on some political and social outfits to argue against these laws and in favour of those who flout them. That is why an issue which ought to have been considered settled in 1947, lingers on and promotes disharmony. Following the Prime Minister’s public admonition, he has come under attack from certain groups that interpret his statements as amounting to endorsement of cow slaughter and an attack on those who protest against it. This is utterly baseless. The incidents reported in recent weeks pertain to transportation and skinning of dead cows. Panchayats and municipal authorities employ individuals to remove dead cows from their precincts and to skin the animals. Gaushalas or pinjrapoles also need such individuals to dispose of dead cows. Most of those who undertake these tasks are Dalits and they have been subjected to violence for merely doing their duty. This is abominable and the State needs to come down heavily on all those who treat fellow citizens in this manner.
Further, these self-styled cow protectors are doing a terrible disservice to the prevailing national consensus against cow slaughter. Their conduct is giving an opportunity to individuals who are opposed to cow protection laws, to mock at the Hindu reverence for the cow. This attempt by some sections of the intelligentsia to use these incidents for a fresh round of Hindu-bashing and to re-open the debate on cow-killing must be nipped in the bud. The cow vigilantes are playing into their hands. That is yet another reason why they must be stopped in their tracks.
A Surya Prakash is Chairperson of Prasar Bharati Email: suryamedia@gmail.com