'BANNING' BEEF & 'SLAUGHTERING' DEMOCRACY

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.