NO TIME TO HEAD BACK TO OBSCURANTISM
It is uncanny that just when things were looking up for the BJP despite having been three years in office at the Centre, a dampener in the form of ‘cow vigilantism’ has surfaced, showing the ugly side of the Sangh Parivar.
It is futile to blame all and sundry for the resurgence of violence and the simmering tension between communities in the name of the poor cow. Instead, it is time for introspection by the BJP lest the tension may neutralise the gains from some of the good that have come out of the BJP government at the Centre and in some states.
In the current case, the spark for the stray incidents of over-zealous cow protection which has triggered a new challenge to law and order has been lit by the Modi government itself. A stricter interpretation of the law on cow slaughter in a manner that procuring cows legally for slaughter will be tougher than ever has raised the hackles of beef-eaters.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules of 2017 permit the sale of cattle in markets only to verified “agriculturists”, who have to give an undertaking to authorities that cattle will not be sold or slaughtered for meat. Nor shall the animal be used for sacrifices. Indeed, they will be used only for farming.
Kerala, where beef-eating is indulged in on a wide scale, is up in arms against anything that would deny beef to those who relish it. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had a dig at the Centre when he said recently that he didn’t need a “lesson in food habits from New Delhi or Nagpur (the RSS headquarters).” The state government will give all facilities to people to have food of their choice. In a spirit of defiance that was ominous, he added: “There is no need for Keralites to learn it from anybody in New Delhi or Nagpur.” The Chief Minister shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the ban amounted to an "intrusion" into the rights of the states.
West Bengal, whose antipathy towards Modi and the BJP is pathological, escalated matters further when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that she would defy any directive on banning cow slaughter through the back door. The northeast chipped in too with its opposition to any ban on beef.
In an act of misplaced bravado, some Youth Congress activists in Kerala slaughtered a calf in full public view while in IIT Madras about 50 students, in another act of defiance, cooked beef and ate it in the IIT lawn as if to show their thumb to the cow vigilantes. The next day, one of the beef-eaters was beaten black and blue by some rival group on the campus — a manifestation of what damage to sanity a sensitive issue can cause.
What are we heading towards? More intolerance on both sides and a surcharged atmosphere that breeds animosity and generates bad blood? The Modi government has indeed been doing a fair job on many fronts but must it rake up emotive issues that cause disunity rather than moving inexorably towards greater development, better education and improved public health standards?
As of now, it looks poised for a second term in office when general elections take place in 2019. The Opposition has given a poor account of itself, but must the NDA serve an opportunity to the ragtag coalition that is forming around them to challenge its supremacy?
With inflation reined in and governance in good nick, with the rampant corruption during UPA rule under effective check, must the Modi government do something silly to fritter away the advantage? Must it get caught up in cow politics and fan the embers of cow vigilantism?
The Madras High Court has given the Sangh Parivar an escape route by staying the implementation of rules banning the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at animal fairs which is causing apprehensions that beef would disappear from butcher shops. The Centre must grab this opportunity to re-look the whole issue from a practical standpoint. The temperature needs to be lowered on this issue and the Centre needs to move on to more pressing issues.
The Muslims and Christians are largely beefeaters so let them eat as they have eaten in peace for centuries. Many Hindus, especially Dalits and backward classes, too eat beef. That has been their way of life for time immemorial.
The BJP has shown that barring an initial thrust for cow protection and the closing down of illegal slaughter houses, what seemed like a government in Uttar Pradesh that was wedded to Hindutva— the Yogi Adityanath dispensation—has shown no real bias against the Muslims so far.
Early in the Modi regime, the government was unfairly targeted in Parliament on stray statements of Hindutva elements. It goes to Modi’s credit that he reined them in subsequently. Now, however, the cow slaughter issue is threatening to take centrestage with some political parties, especially the Trinamool Congress and the Left, trying hard to make political capital out of it.
This is a time for Modi to de-escalate and bring the party back on a constructive agenda. The development card had in 2014 proved to be potent. Employment of course needs to be worked on. With general elections less than two years away this is no time to take the BJP back towards obscurantism.
With the Ram Mandir issue resurrected by the judiciary after two and a half decades in limbo, there would be a tendency to appeal to the religious sentiments of Hindus through an emotive pitch. If that means polarisation and bad blood it must be eschewed scrupulously.
WITH inflation reined in and governance in good nick, with the rampant corruption during UPA rule under effective check, must the Modi government do something silly to fritter away the advantage? Must it get caught up in cow politics and fan the embers of cow vigilantism?