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Cow vigilantes take to the streets as India's Hindu leaders accused of 'right-wing' muscle flexing
Sydney Morning Herald - September 10, 2016
Mewat is a Muslim-majority area in the state of Haryana, where beef is banned. Anyone found slaughtering a cow, considered sacred in India, or eating beef in Haryana faces imprisonment of up to 10 years.
"We have never used beef, it is always mutton or chicken. But if they want to create discord between Hindus and Muslims by making this accusation against us, what can we do?," said Arif Husain, a roadside eatery owner.
"It's right wing Hindus flexing their muscles. It's a case of protecting the cow as some sort of religious fetish and to make Muslims feel on edge," said New Delhi political analyst Parsa Venkateshwar Rao.
Ever since Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, Hindu cow vigilantes have been in the news. During his campaign, Modi often mentioned the need to protect the cow.
Feeling emboldened by the BJP being in power, cow protectors have assaulted people whom they suspect are transporting cows for slaughter or eating beef.
Last month, protests broke out after one such group flogged four low caste villagers in Mr Modi's home state of Gujarat. The villagers said they were only skinning a cow that died of natural causes.
Last year, another villager, Mohammed Akhlaq, was lynched by a mob in front of his family for allegedly killing a cow and keeping beef in his fridge. Other incidents of violence by groups of Hindu youths have been in the news in recent months, horrifying Indians who want to eat what they wish and making Muslims feel as though they are easy game.
The right wing Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) has urged Mr Modi to set up a Cow Protection Ministry. And BJP-ruled states are busy erecting cow shelters.
"We need good homes for all our cows because they are our mother and we must revere our mother," said Radha Kant Vants who runs a cow shelter in the Indian capital.
After a series of vigilante attacks came to light last month, Mr Modi spoke out to reprimand lynch mobs. He called them "anti social elements" who were criminals by night but posed as cow protectors by day. This accusation enraged the vigilantes who retaliated by telling him he should send in the Indian army to protect cows.
A report in the Hindustan Times newspaper on Thursday said all seven biryani samples collected by the police in Mewat and sent to a lab had been tested and found to be beef. Mewat police have not commented on the results.
But the lab report is unlikely to settle the matter. In the Mr Akhlaq's murder case, the first lab concluded that the meat found in his fridge was mutton. In May, another lab said it was beef. Mr Akhlaq's son has accused officials of swapping the meat samples.
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