While India is at a stage where lawless acts of cow vigilantism are claiming human lives, several gaurakshaks were given awards for their “great service” at the National Conference on the Indian Cow organised by Virat Hindustan Sangam at the Bombay Stock Exchange.
My speech #BosIndicusCow https://t.co/nVMYa2wtfC
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 18, 2017
Attended @vhsindia National Conference on #BosIndicusCow in @bseindia Convention Hall,Mumbai pic.twitter.com/7JrimL4ADu
— कार्यकर्ता~VHS (@tony_karyakarta) June 18, 2017
In the ongoing insanity of human killing in the name of cow-protection, the violence it hides underneath the garb of love for the mother-like animal has claimed many lives in the recent past.
- In 2015, a violent vigilante campaign against beef consumption has led to the killing of at least 10 Muslims, including a 12-year-old boy, in seven separate incidents of mob violence.
- In 2015 Dadri mob lynching refers to case of mob lynching in which a mob of villagers attacked the home of a Muslim man Mohammed Ikhlaq, with sticks and bricks, who they suspected of stealing and slaughtering a stolen cow-calf, on the night of 28 September 2015 in Bisara village near Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, India.
- In July 2016, in Gujarat, vigilantes stripped four Dalit men, tied them to a car, and beat them with sticks and belts over suspicions of cow slaughter.
- And very recently, a Muslim man who was beaten up by alleged cow vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar district succumbed to his injuries on April 5, 2017.
- On May 28, 2017, a video surfaced which showed cow vigilantes can be seen assaulting two youths for allegedly possessing beef, in Maharashtra’s Washim district.
In the wake of such unreasonable violence, a number of gaurakshaks were given awards at the event. Among those who received the award was retired director general of the Border Security Force, PK Mishra, who the organisers claimed had rescued “40 lakh cows” at the Bangladesh border. An activist for People for Animals, Chetan Sharma, was also felicitated for stopping meat vehicles “all over Maharashtra”.
Speaking at the event on Sunday, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy called for a national tax to fund cow shelters.
Attempting to conserve cows, which are readily available in India, another dignitary at the conference, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir, proposed converting India’s 7 crore hectares of forest land to “cow sanctuaries” similar to Project Tiger. Just for your information, the total cattle in India was 191 million as per 2012 livestock census while in the same year, there were not more than 3890 tigers in India considering that India is home to 70% of tigers in the world.
Concerned about the welfare of cows, he said “Farmers who wish to abandon old, unproductive cows can leave them there. We have raised enough awareness about cow slaughter. Now, we should generate forest grass as fodder for cows,”
Spiritual leaders, businessmen, politicians, and owners of cow shelters, as many as 600 “delegates” assembled at the BSE International Convention Hall, where discussions about virtues of cow protection were held.
To our surprise, the organisers also launched a “Cow Connect” app to help the gaurakshak network grow. Time can only tell how they use this network, which going by history doesn’t evoke much hope for goodwill of the cows.
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