Unholy acts in the name of ‘holy cow’
Uttar Pradesh is no stranger to the shenanigans of cow protection vigilante groups which have unleashed their tyranny in the western part of the state and struck at will
Cow vigilante groups are not confined to Gujarat, where their atrocities have led to a nationwide uproar, or other parts of the country like MP. They are on the prowl in UP too, especially the western part of the state. Cow slaughter is prohibited as is the transport of cows outside UP for killing. Flexing their muscle, the vigilantes harass people and launch assaults at will, all in the name of the holy cow, considered sacred by Hindus.
BAREILLY/MEERUT/AGRA/ALLAHABAD: Cow vigilante groups are not confined to Gujarat, where their atrocities have led to a nationwide uproar, or other parts of the country like Madhya Pradesh. They are on the prowl in Uttar Pradesh too, especially the western part of the state.
Cow slaughter is prohibited in UP as is the transport of cows outside the state for killing. Flexing their muscle, the vigilantes harass people and launch assaults at will, all in the name of the holy cow, considered sacred by Hindus.
As some of these incidents have come to light in the run-up to Uttar Pradesh assembly election due in early 2017, the electoral subtext is hard to miss in a state where the Dadri lynching incident added beef to the political discourse last year. Sample this. A cow protection group attacked two men for buying 10 cows for slaughter at Chaubari Mela in Ramganga, Bareilly, on June 14, 2016.
In April 2016, the driver and cleaner of a truck carrying cows were manhandled by a vigilante group near Subhashnagar police outpost on Bareilly-Badaun Road. The driver of a van transporting meat was beaten up Shiv Sainiks near Chaupla area before being arrested by the police on September 18, 2015. This incident took place eight days after a sub-inspector was shot dead by an alleged cattle smuggler. “Cow is like mother to us. We try our best not to hurt the feelings of people of another community, but if anyone tries to harm our mother we will not remain quiet,” says Shiv Sena Bareilly district president Pankaj Pathak.
Amit Rathore, 27, who is with the Hindu Sena, says: “We are here to preserve Hindu tradition and culture. Our ways are a little tough but trust me we are doing this for the uplift of Hindus.”
Naturally, such views are not music to the ears of Meerut’s Haji Raisoo who has been earning a living for his family of seven by trading in animals for over three decades. He is among over many Muslims who supply livestock to licensed slaughterhouses. The situation has worsened in the last five years after the RSS, the BJP and their frontal organisations, including Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, hardened their stand on the issue, he says. He says animals have been looted from him and the activists and leaders of these organisations have become more active ahead of elections, he alleges.
Former MP Haji Shahid Akhlaq, who owns a meat processing unit, says: “The rise of these so-called self-styled cow protection volunteers is a calculated move of the RSS and the BJP against minorities in order to make them financially weak.
“Their other motive is to polarise Hindus in the name of the cow,” he adds.
The fear among the traders is in sharp contrast to the bravado among the ‘gau rakshaks’.
Balraj Dunger, the Bajrang Dal’s prant sanyojak (regional coordinator), warns, “We are always ready either to sacrifice or take anyone’s life for gai (cow) which is our maa (mother).”
Sandeep Pahal, president of NGO Sach which has been fighting the meat mafia for years, believes the cow issue is being used for political propaganda.
With such being the state of affairs, it is not surprising that five Muslim traders were stopped and beaten by cow protection vigilantes in Mathura.
Though the traders were transporting buffalo calves to their hometown Aligarh, the ‘gau rakshaks’ accused them of taking cows for slaughter.
Sunil Parashar, former state convenor of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s gau raksha prakalp, says: “Cases like the one in Una (Gujarat) or the one in Mathura cannot be justified but lack of police firmness often brings us into the picture. If ‘gau-rakshaks’ can locate illegal transport and slaughter of cow, why can’t police do the same. If the cops act, there will be no cow vigilantism.”
Mohd. Shareef Qureshi, the president of the All India Jamait-ul-Quresh’s Agra unit, says Muslims are also against cow slaughter and alleges: “Groups like VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena have made it a source of their income as they allow those who pay them (to transport cattle) and target those who refuse to pay.” A BJP leader denies the charge.
Denouncing vigilantism, superintendent of police rural (Mathura) RK Singh says: “Every citizen has a right to intervene if anything wrong is happening but they do not have the right to take the law into their hands and attack others.”
In Allahabad and its adjoining districts, groups like Gau Raksha Dal are leaving no stone unturned to nab cattle smugglers through a network of the VHP as well as the Bajrang Dal activists.
Tracking, chasing, catching and meting out instant ‘justice’ by thrashing the ‘suspects’ are part of the exercise.
On July 21, a mini-truck transporting two cows and a calf was intercepted by VHP activist Anuj Singh and his colleagues in Sikandra village under Baharia police station in Phulpur tehsil. The driver and two other people accompanying the animals abandoned the mini-truck. Kashi Prant (regional) organisational secretary Mukeshji sees nothing wrong in what is being done.
“We are not breaking the law. We are helping the police uphold it,” he says.
Allahabad’s superintendent of police (crime) Ramakant Prasad says: “What VHP activists are doing is wrong. They have no right to stop any person taking his cow from one place to another. I have not received any complaint. If I receive a complaint of harassment by anyone action would be initiated against people involved in the same.”
Cow is like mother to us. We try our best not to hurt the feelings of others, but if anyone tries to harm our mother we will not remain quiet. PANKAJ PATHAK, Shiv Sena leader