Home

Crowdfunding Countercurrents

CC Archive

Submission Policy

Popularise CC

Join News Letter

Defend Indian Constitution

CounterSolutions

CounterImages

CounterVideos

CC Youtube Channel

Editor's Picks

Feed Burner

Read CC In Your
Own Language

Bradley Manning

India Burning

Mumbai Terror

Financial Crisis

Iraq

AfPak War

Peak Oil

Globalisation

Localism

Alternative Energy

Climate Change

US Imperialism

US Elections

Palestine

Latin America

Communalism

Gender/Feminism

Dalit

Humanrights

Economy

India-pakistan

Kashmir

Environment

Book Review

Gujarat Pogrom

Kandhamal Violence

Arts/Culture

India Elections

Archives

Links

About Us

Disclaimer

Fair Use Notice

Contact Us

Subscribe To Our
News Letter

Name


E-mail:



Search Our Archive



Our Site

Web

 

 

 

 

 

Cow Is A Political Animal

By Parul Verma

21 October, 2015
Countercurrents.org

Recent outbreak of swine flu cases in india was due to the mutated strain but the on-going communal tension around the nation is more than just any mutated strain,for the religious manipulation is dominating its strain. Indians are being haunted by the basic questions around this new political animal of the nation (THE COW).

What exactly is India's beef with the beef? Is it really about the beef to begin with or the crass execution of the demonstration of THE power ? Is the animal being (mis)used by the two polarities of the skewed political and religious ideologies of the right wing Hindutva community?

Understanding the current scenario using politically correct statements would be a form of linguistic fascism. Hence questioning the recent communal riots,through a critical prism is much needed. The landslide use of power to promote the hindutva religious ideologies by BJP is plaguing the nation,at the cost of oppressing anything and everything that do not comply with their religious ideologies.

An article in RSS organ panchayat said “ the Vedas order killing of anyone who slaughter a cow. cow slaughter is a big issue for Hindu community. For many of us it is a question of life and death.”

The religious justification of the law supporting criminalisation of cow slaughter by the hindutva community does not allign with the historical and archaeological facts . Irony penetrates in the status symbol of the cow,of then and now,once researched extensively. The ancient Vedic literature suggested that the Gopatha Brahman describes 21 types of yajñas (sacrifices), the most important of which included animal sacrifice. The offering varied depending on which god was being propitiated Gods such as Indra had a special preference for bull's meat while sacrifices to Agni were of both bull's and cow's. Vedic traditions suggest that the Maruts and the Asvins were also offered cows. The Asvamedha and the Rajasuya yajñas all included animal sacrifice in large numbers. In Asvamedha for instance, more than 600 animals were killed, and its end was celebrated with the sacrifice of 21 cows. The archaeological excavations reflects ample of empirical evidence for the same. Excavation at lal quila,district bulandshehar—[source:-Indian Archaeology 1969-70 A Review] conducted by the Archaeological Research Laboratory at Oxford, indicate a mean date of 1880 B.C found animal bones in large numbers. The cut-marks, present on many of them, suggest that the meat was the staple diet. Evidence of some grains(cereal), suggested agriculture as a subsidiary occupation, was also available(source:-beef eating in ancient India : Sanjeev sabhlok)

The Hindutva community should re-read the Vedas and the practices implemented in the era to religion-mise any animal for that matter. If cow slaughter was a ritual being practiced during the Vedic era,then why the ban now? The role of the cow here is that of a swinging animal with politics and religion as its two polarities of the pendulum. As camouflage reveals itself, arguement supporting the rise of hindu nationalism and the preveiligised laws towards a particular religion is what’s at play, placing ‘others’ at the lowest denominator. Communal aggression in india has witnessed the rise of incidents up by 24% and related deaths by 65% ,since Modi’s rise of power in 2014. From the recent murder of a Muslim in Dadri for allegedly slaughtering a cow to the torching of the mosque in Ballabgarh ,are very few incidents that got media coverage. The latest data ,by the Union home ministry reflects the reporting of 287 communal incidents alone in 2015 (data till May 31st 2015). Most of the victims were muslims and christains. The response of the BJP (Hindu ruling party) towards the voilence against Muslims has been highly dissapointing ,particularly that of the Dadri incident.

The lynching of a Muslim man was not justified,on the suspicion of slaughtering a cow . The status of the cow as an animal has been reformed into the political symbol via which the privileged religious ideologies is being endorsed. The political cow is being misused for the crass exertion of the political power of the skewed ideologues . What needs to be questioned is power of the impunity. What is plaguing the nation is the power to abuse and the abuse of the power without the fear of its consequences. The implementation of endorsing one privileged religion over another is an act of religious bigotry. If the condition is not intervened with just policies that operates with the zero-tolerance towards any civilian exgravating the communal riots, the nation shall forsee a tragic future.

Parul Verma Activist,student and a blogger. Reach her at [email protected] for any feedback or queries.



 

Share on Tumblr

 

 


Comments are moderated