‘CM’s silence on cow vigilantism creating environment for violence to continue’
DEMAND FOR JUSTICE Say activists who have organised a threeday dharna outside the assembly in Jaipur
slogans like ‘Gau rakshak nahi nar bhakshak hain’ (They are not cow protectors but man-eaters), speakers at a dharna organised in front of the Rajasthan Assembly criticised the Rajasthan government for giving cow vigilantes a free run in the state.
“We have gathered here to demand justice for Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer from Nuh, who was lynched by a group of gau rakshaks at Behror, Rajasthan, when he was returning with four others, including his two sons. While five people have been arrested, the six who were named in the FIRs are being protected by the police. We have been told that the main accused are not being arrested as they are a part of the Bajrang Dal, VHP and RSS. We demand their immediate arrest. It is also unfortunate that the Rajasthan chief minister has not cared to open her mouth on this serious crime in the state even after 18 days,” Kavita Srivastava of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said.
A number of activists from Left parties, PUCL and labour organisations among others took part in the dharna. The three-day dharna outside the Vidhan Sabha will end on April 26.
“The state home minister who spoke to the media soon after the death of Pehlu Khan, glorified the gau rakshaks instead of assuring a fair investigation. He said that the gau rakshaks have done a good job except that they should not have been so brutal with Pehlu Khan and not taken the law in their hands,” she added.
Addressing the dharna, Prof V S Vyas warned of the harmful effects of cow vigilantism on the rural economy with the movement of cattle, including bullocks, being hit after an increase in the number of cases of gau rakshaks intercepting vehicles ferrying cattle on the highways.
MLA and CPI (ML) leader Rajkumar Yadav alleged that the BJP and its associated parties were trying to divide the country on the basis of religion. “Look at what is happening in Uttar Pradesh. An increasing number of people are becoming unemployed due to the closure of slaughterhouses. The government needs a course correction and think about all sections of the society,” he said.
The silence of the BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, on the issue of cow vigilantism creates an enabling environment for violence to continue, social activist Harsh Mander said. “It is very unfortunate that people who are trying to manage their livelihood are subjected to mob lynching. No one has a right to take law into their own hands. These were pregnant cows or cows with small calf and cow smugglers don’t purchase and transport such cows,” he said.
Dalit activist Jignesh Mewani said that the union government has failed to fulfil its promise of job creation and also failed to solve the deep-rooted agrarian crisis and its entire focus is on playing politics of polarization in the name of cow vigilantism. Mewani came into limelight after four Dalits were flogged in Una for skinning dead cow.
Speakers said that the lynching of Pehlu Khan was not the first case in Rajasthan. In Bharloki, Nagaur, Abdul Gaffar Qureshi was lynched on May 30, 2016, following rumours that Muslims had consumed beef after slaughtering cows. However, evidence showed that it was completely wrong. Similarly, in Rajsamand, in October 2016, Banjaras were beaten up by gau rakshaks despite having required documents. It took public protests to get the guilty arrested.
Pehlu Khan and four others were attacked allegedly by the cow vigilantes in Alwar’s Behror while they were on their way to Haryana after purchasing cattle in Rajasthan’s Ramgarh on April 1. 55-year-old Khan succumbed to his injuries at a hospital on April 3.