The present BJP led NDA
government since it has been in power, has been waging ‘brahmanical terrorism’
in various forms- whether it’s imposition of Sanskrit or making Vande Mataram
compulsory or ‘Good Governance’ day or ‘ghar-wapsi’. In less than a year’s time
Modi government has left no stone unturned in saffronization through the
education system or through the ordinance culture or continuous attacks on
missionaries & vandalization of Churches. It is this brahmanical cultural
aggression that has led to the destruction of identities of diverse traditions
and nationalities. Their weapons such as Ayodhya issue, uniform civil code,
installing sanghi members as heads of educational institutions are all aimed at
imposing a hegemonizing culture, murdering the spirit of democracy &
establishing the hindutva model of ‘neoliberalism’. The recent budget was a
manifesto of the ‘corporate houses’ with increase in indirect tax, sharp
decline in social welfare schemes and massive cut down of funds and subsidies
in the sector of education, health, child and women development. Similarly, in
the name of ‘reforming’ labour laws, BJP ruled governments have been attacking
the working class by providing ‘hiring-firing’ power to the companies. The
recent Land Acquisition act is another such step to exploit the farmers and
providing lands on cheap rates to the corporates.
The recent banning of
beef in Maharashtra is continuation of these steps towards saffronisation of
the diverse cultures of this country. ‘Maharahstra Animal Preservation
(Amendment) Bill, 1995’ has received President’s assent. Twenty years back Shiv-Sena
& BJP government had initiated it but was not sent for president’s
approval. In the amendment cow-slaughter has been made a ‘non-bailable offence’
and this time the imprisonment will be 10 times more- 5 years. This is just
another attempt to impose the superstitious beliefs and values which were
opposed repeatedly by rationalists like Dr. Narendra Dabholkar (1945-2013) and
Comrade Govind Pansare (1933- 2015). The BJP in Maharashtra formed its
government with the help of another fascist offshoot the Shivsena, which had
promised to deal with the problems of farmer suicide and unemployment. However,
by camouflaging its Sanghi motives of so called “Holy Cow” protection the
BJP-Shiv Sena brigade has again slaughtered the culture of food habits and
choices. The Shiv Sena, adept in attacking the South Indian restaurants in
Mumbai for serving beef receives Hafta (protection money) to stop the attacks.
Their motive is only to spread the poisonous beliefs for imposing the
hierarchical model of Hindutva. These
Sanghi elements are trying their best to foster their anti-democratic agendas
by attacking religious minorities and kicking in controversial statements in
the name of culture. Today Maharashtra has a 61% deficit in cow fodder.
Peasants who have earned livelihood by selling their cows that aren’t milch or
otherwise useful will bear the brunt as cow fodder shortage will affect them
the most; such adverse situations will have a negative impact on the farmer
suicides. Along with the poor peasants even the middle classes that used to
consume beef will be gravely affected by this beef ban as their only option
next to beef- mutton- is 4 times expensive and not as nutritious as beef. The
real intention behind the ban is not protection of cows but it is about attacking
the beef-industry comprising mostly of Muslims and about criminalizing the food
habits of Muslims, Dalits, Shudras and minority nationalities by discarding their
rights. The legal case by the Beef Merchants’ Association will also be futile
as the judiciary is being controlled by Modi.
With this, Maharashtra
joins many other Indian states where cow-slaughter has been banned - Uttar
Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Gujarat, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh; however the implementation
differs depending on the political party in power. On the other hand some
states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal
Pradesh, and Nagaland allow cow-slaughter and don’t even require
‘fit-for-slaughter’ certificates. BJP clown Subramanian Swami has asked central
government to bring a central legislation on anti-cow slaughter so that other
states can follow it. It is unfortunate
that the progressive forces of this country have not come forward and resisted
this hegemonization and fight for the diverse cultures and nationalities.
This beef ban under is
yet another act of appeasement by the Bengali Brahmin Pranab Mukherjee to the
Fadanvis Govt in the Sena-BJP regime in the Brahmanical land of Peshwas. If
this Brahmanical terrorism continues it will be of no surprise if cow urine is
declared as a national tonic one day! TNM has been raising this issue since its
inception and the pseudo-left of this campus has shown nothing but the
‘criminal silence’ on this fight for democracy. We appeal to all the
progressive forces of this campus to raise their voices against this
‘Brahmanical food untouchability’ and the onslaught on diverse cultures.
