Politics over animals is not new to India. Be it Hindus’ holy cow or Muslims’ sacrificial goat, or a hapless pregnant elephant who ate an explosive-laden fruit in Kerala, politicians routinely walk over the dead bodies of animals to assert their agenda in a country that is consumed by religion and traditions around animals. But the outrage over the deaths has nothing to do with animal welfare. In the great words of Nirmala Sitharaman, it is ‘dramebaazi’. The outrage is sheer hypocrisy. In fact, it is fake.
Because if it wasn’t, the Hindutva brigade and the BJP camp, including ministers such as Maneka Gandhi and Prakash Javadekar, would have similarly outraged over the incident in Himachal Pradesh where a man allegedly fed explosive-mixed eatables to a pregnant cow. But there was no outrage because the incident took place in a BJP-ruled state and didn’t involve a Muslim.
Tweets after pregnant Elephant incident in Kerala :
ANI : 13
Maneka Gandhi : 3
Tweets after pregnant Cow incident in Himachal Pradesh :
ANI : 0
Maneka Gandhi : 0
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) June 6, 2020
India’s deeply historic animalistic traditions were recognised by the Mughals. This is why protection of the cow and banning of cow slaughter find mention even during Babur’s reign, a Mughal king arguably most despised by Hindu nationalists because of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. He is known to have advised his son Humayun to ensure a ban on cow slaughter in Mughal territories. Akbar continued with the ban, as found in his ‘firman’ of 1586. Bahadur Shah Zafar decided to give death penalty to those found guilty of slaughtering cows in India in a show of Hindu-Muslim unity in 1857. Sultan of Mysore, Haider Ali was known to chop off the hands of anyone found guilty of cow slaughter.
But does all that matter today? No. What matters is if the animal’s death can be communalised or not to invoke fake outrage. Because if there is a Muslim involved, Hindu hate won’t be far away. Modern-day politics has made the cow a symbol of Hindutva, which is “under attack” by beef-eating Muslims. In the case of Communist-ruled Kerala, an elephant was used to further that agenda. The tools and methods were similar — the invocation of piety and the fact that Hindus worship elephants; and the impact was also similar — more hatred towards Muslim and Communists.
The brutal killing of the elephant caused national outrage, as it rightly should. But it then entered the usual territory of spinning a yarn. The district where the elephant died, Palakkad, became Muslim-dominated Malappuram. The elephant accidentally eating the explosive-laden pineapple turned into deliberate feeding by seemingly ‘violent Muslims’. The animal was nowhere in sight — it all became Hindutva’s latest tool.
Also read: New India has a solution to all its problems — Blame the Muslim
Maneka Gandhi, and a reality check
The idea was clear: show Muslims as having found their next target — elephants — to wage ‘jihad’. Elephant represents the Hindu god Ganesh. And in the Hindutva textbook, Muslims are adept at making bombs at home to kill animals and perpetuate violence. BJP’s Sultanpur MP Maneka Gandhi added new elements to the story, defaming the people of Malappuram by saying that today they are using bombs “against an elephant, tomorrow they will use these bombs against humans”. Talk about a fabricated stereotype on speed, and take it to the next level of delusion.
Gandhi, a former Union minister, conjured false data on Kerala’s performance in managing its wildlife, safety of animals and women. She accused the people of Kerala of killing 600 elephants every year, with one elephant killed every third day. First, RIP math. Second, fake news. In the last three years, 21 wild elephants were killed in Kerala — that is, seven every year, not 600 as Maneka claimed. Despite media reports and social media users calling her out, Maneka’s tweet making the false claim was still up.
Data on deaths of captive elephants is still shoddy but a few publications have claimed that 24, 33 and 16 captive elephants died in 2014, 2018 and 2019, respectively. Most elephant deaths, according to the Centre, take place in Assam, a state ruled by Maneka Gandhi’s BJP. In the last three years, 90 wild elephants have been killed in Assam.
Maneka Gandhi also seemed to have suffered partial amnesia. Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit, her bastion since 1989 and from where her son Varun Gandhi won the 2019 Lok Sabha election, has witnessed deaths of as many as 16 tigers and three leopards since 2012.
And who can forget the killing of a tigress by a mob in Pilibhit in July 2019? The tigress was beaten so mercilessly that it died of broken ribs and trauma to her body. Where was the outrage and the statistics on Pilibhit from the BJP leader then? Evidently, it is completely political.
Also read: As Covid goes out of hand, Modi goes back to yoga, acronyms and nationalism
Hindutva doesn’t mind cows killed for luxury
What the Hindutva brigade should be reminded of is that its patchy outrage over animal protection, especially those revered in Hinduism, is insincere because if it really wished to ban cow slaughter, Hindus would have long stopped playing tabla or mridangam, and using bone china, soaps, cosmetics, detergents, lubricants — all of which are made of some part of a cow, be it the animal’s skin, bones or fat. In fact, the Hindutva champions should stop using vehicles whose tyres are made from a chemical (stearic acid) using cow fat. And yes, that white sugar in your ‘chai’, in some instances it is turned from brown to white thanks to cow and cattle bones. Also, the next time you play cricket, think twice before licking the cricket ball that’s made of cowhide.
Similarly, the outrage of Hindu nationalists over the sacrifice of goats during Bakri-Eid, which is barely two months away, is highly misplaced and hypocritical. Hinduism itself has no qualms with animal sacrifice. Spending only a few hours at the Kamakhya temple or the Burhi Gosani Durga temple in Assam will make you realise how animal sacrifices are central to Hindu traditions. Chief of Kamakhya temple management authority, Bar Doloi Mohit Sharma has clearly stated that sacrifice of the animals is part of the “nitya puja” (daily worship).
Last year, just one Sunday during Durga Puja saw 15 buffaloes, about 20 goats and an uncountable number of pigeons and ducks being sacrificed at the Burhi Gosani Durga temple, as confirmed by Pradip Mishra, a management committee member of the temple. After the Tripura High Court banned animal sacrifice last year at Tripura Sundari temple, the BJP government in the state filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court, which issued an interim order resuming the sacrifice ritual within just 15 days.
Also read: Live with bats or kill them? There is a third option even during coronavirus crisis
What matters is who kills the animal
Countless Dalits, Muslims and tribal people have been lynched simply over rumours of slaughtering or smuggling cows. But if the cows are dying of starvation at gaushalas created by the upholders of Hindu ‘dharma’, then that’s not worth outraging over or even doing anything to correct it. In 2017, more than 150 cows died in a span of five months in a Kanpur gaushala that owns property worth over Rs 220 crore and is one of the richest cow shelters in India. This, when the state is ruled by a saffron-clad chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, who is often seen feeding cows for photo-ops.
Just like the elephant, cows’ faces have been blown apart by chewing on country bombs made by farmers who are anyway facing acute losses and debts under the current economic conditions. Where’s the outrage? Instead of safeguarding and ensuring the farmers, the Narendra Modi government and the several BJP-ruled states have left them to fend for their farms themselves. Destruction of their produce spells disaster. The farmers resort to the crudest forms to protect their crops, which is the responsibility of the government just as it considers its responsibility (although does little about it other than using it as a dog-whistle) to protect animals considered sacred by Hindus.
The Modi government last year allowed 170,000 hectares of forest in Chhattisgarh to be mined for coal. Think of the animals who will die due to it. And then recall the outrage. It’s fake.
The author is a political observer and writer. Views are personal.
If only animals are not considered deities you guys would not have these communal issues. Worshipping animals and killing humankind is just ludicrous!
Can you call all Muslims terrorist even 99% of them are Muslims???
If not then how can you call out all hindus???
And when did so called dalits are not Hindus anymore???
Either you have lost your mind or had decided to rule all dalits are out of Hindus if thar is do then why should they get reservations???
Evert thought abt it
I think your article is half bakwas and half politicaly motivated
Reason being have you ever wrote an article on so called dalits conditions in Muslim dominates Kashmir???
Second you purpusly mentioned so called dalits out of Hindu fold because psydo seculars like you or as I call farzi seculars or(definition of secularism of India) are trying so hard to make the Muslim and so called dalits on same platform so they can unite and most probebly vote against NDA government
And I just don’t understand why is it so easy to call every Hindu as culprit and when it comes to Muslims it’s like no all Muslims are not bad and bla bla bla bla bla same tape all the time from past so many decades aren’t you guys tired of trying same thing all the time find something new 😁😁😁
I don’t even understand why you guys never get tired of blaming Hindus??
Had Hindus were so bad were you able to write this article or many like you would have being able to do so??
OK let me rephrase it, had you being in Muslim majority county (Pakistan Bangladesh or Afghanistan) where you be alive even after blaming majority????
Stop blaming Hindus we had enough of crap and all kind of bullshit from people like you
We are not that bad else minority would have not prospered in india
In the end as you can’t blame all Muslims for terrorists activities although it’s almost a Muslim involved in it, you can’t blame all hinds for something which involved few
And yaa counting so called dalits out of Hindus were a cheep politicaly motivated and obviously was for a particular ajenda of so called farzi seculars of india
And I would love to see what you have to write abt Muslim burning home of so called dalits in utterpardesh
And an 8 yrs girls being raped by as many as 7 people in Tamilnadu the oldest being 78 all Muslims let see how and what kind of journalists does print actually has to offer other then blaming hindus and targeting NDA government
If you write anything mail me 🙂
Have a nice day but this is not working anymore blaming hindus for everything we are not that bad at all
This article is nothing short of hate speech. This is not criticism. She should be jailed for this article. #BigotZainab
I am again posting a comment after watching Cut the Clutter Ep 495. Forget about the law, this article is even in violation of print’s own policies. Bring down this article or make addition to your terms that bigotry is allowed on your portal if you are Muslim.
And one more thing mr /ms the kishtawar incident happened during the government of honurable secular scam ridden government of the UPA and ya fascist sonia ji was the chairperson #astoma sadgamya tamsoma jyotirgamya ! Hope u have no problem with the universal mother
Mr kili oh vow now I am really baffled by the arguments u have put forth !so I am not able to differentiate!I live in jammu nd I have seen hindus getting tortured in ways that pseudoseculars like u would never agree .I have seen hindus bieng killed raped in kishtawar by muslims yes those innocent muslims !and no one saying anything about it .You challange our philosophy our culture our identity ok we are not that weak that we get scared by questioning but one question I too would like to ask u why suddenly wahabi and salafi sects of Islam having no connection to india increased so much in recent years ??? Under these sects of islam even taj Mahal should be demolished ? And where are the graves of honurable bibi ayesha and bibi Fatima?????? You question our religious beliefs first answer these questions!thank you and with love from a true secular #cured secular @m not into appeasement!
Mr Saksham Jain: Thanks for your comments.
None of my posts here defend violence by any party – religious or otherwise. And almost all my posts hold the sitting government – at present the BJP – to account for its sins, especially when it comes to stoking violence against many vulnerable minorities. And worse still, for sidelining the Constitution and usurping and subjugating the power vested with the police and the judiciary to serve political ends. At the expense of the unity of India.
Additionally, unlike Hindutvaists like you who regard Muslims and Christians as minorities, I recognise that minorities in India can be defined along many dimensions. For instance within Hinduism itself, there are Dalit minorities, beef eating Hindus as in Kerala and North East, fish eating Brahmins in Bengal, Hindus offering animal meat during puja rites and so on. Thus, in the upper-caste Hindu flats in Madras where my parents live, Bengali Brahmins would probably be not allowed to settle in as they would eat fish and cause a stink ! And in Bal Thackeray’s Bombay of the 70s and 80s, the “kaala madraasi” was a minority that the Shiv Sena attacked, regardless of the religion of said “kaala madrasi”.
You go on to make the bombastic claim that you “have seen Hindus being killed and raped in Kishtawar” and that the incident happened during “the secular scam ridden government of the UPA and ya fascist sonia ji “. Although I cannot find any record of that in Kishtawar, I nonetheless give you the benefit of doubt and assume that what you say is true. I unequivocally condemn that incident and the failure of the UPA government to act. No questions asked, no ifs and buts – the sitting government of the day has a Constitutional duty to protect citizens. But then, by the same token, shouldn’t then CM Modi be held responsible for the Godhra pogroms of 2002 ? Just as then PM Rajiv Gandhi should have been held responsible for the Sikh pogroms of 1984 ? Just as then PM Indira Gandhi and the Assam government should have been held for the Nellie massacre which killed upwards of 3000 Muslims in 1983?
And then, what do you have to say to the barbaric rape and murder of a Asifa Bano, a 8 year old Muslim girl in Kathua in J&K at the hands of 7 Hindu men? That tragic incident happened in Jan 2018. Did you condemn that horrific crime Mr Saksham Jain? Did you know that the main accused Sanji Ram was the temple priest at the temple where this girl was held captive, drugged, raped and killed? And that 4 of the 7 accused were police officers ?
But then, it should surely delight your Hindutva soul to note that both the Congress & the BJP supported the perpetrators not the 8 year old Muslim victim. Clearly, political parties know how to profit from your prejudices.
Mr Jain, you start by saying: “I am really baffled by the arguments u have put forth”. I duly tender my apologies for baffling your gaurakhsak intellect. Perhaps you need a larger dose of gomutra ? Or you could maybe get some advice from your mentor Babu Bajrangi of Naroda Patiya fame ?
It is shameless gutter politics to give the elephant incident a communal angle, but alas, gutter politics has become this country’s breakfast, lunch & dinner. Malignant and mischievous are those who are trying to link this elephant to Hindu deities of Ganesha. I mean GIVE ME A BREAK!!!
The title of the article and the description below it would classify as “anti-Hindu” / “hinduphobic” by all yardsticks
A racist and and anti Hindu article as can be expected from Zainab Sikander who’s main emphasis is promoting anti Hindutva just as instructed in the Koran. Shame on The Print for carrying such a racist and communally charged article.
Another bizarre example of BJP and PM Modi’s hypocrisy can be seen in the Leather industry, one of the many industries that the PM wishes to promote through the Make in India initiative.
Export of leather and leather products is one of the top 10 foreign exchange earners for India. It is labour intensive and generates 4.2 million jobs in rural regions, particularly for semi-skilled workers. The domestic market alone is worth USD 18 billions with a similar amount in export earnings.
Yet, this successful industry is being crippled by the BJP’s own policies on prevention of cow slaughter and shows a decline in revenues each year as the supply of hide is curtailed by government policy.
Paradoxically, despite this great success story, the BJP government is gifting India’s crown to Pakistan through its bizarre, atavistic policies on cows and cattle.
The webpage of the Leather sector of Make in India is available at ref: bit.ly/2ML9az3
goobutter shah
Hinduphobic author. Simple facts, in India Muslim population has doubled since independence…..can she say what is the corresponding growth or reduction in Pakistan and Bangladesh for all minorities..? Remember , we were all one country just 70 year and ago…now coming back to her silly diagnosis….can she compare the number if animals killed per capita across he world and how many are killed in India? Silly stray cases don’t make a pattern….let’s assume for a second that the author doesn’t like animal sacrifice….can she let us know with facts , how many animals are sacrificed by Hindus for religious purposes and how many by Muslims? And what can be way forward.
Author seems lost the way, what she wanted to achieve. Once you use the community words. The case is closed.
Agree BJP is using cow-issue to instigate Hindu. We know, every terror a followed by media using terrorist name and religion identity, entire Muslim community get angry. I’m not blaming or defending, saying it’s reality.
Hence, consider the cause, explore the issue, not community aspect.
Final thing, if you want controversy, you’re successful!
I never read the author’s name till I finish reading an article. This author proves my method to remove the bias wrong. I should have known better. Everything she writes is just a reinforcement of her prejudice that Hindus are some kind of monsters who bay for Muslims’ blood. Instead of throwing the blame here and there why not initiate a process of suggesting solutions so that people come out of this mindset. Anyway for that to happen, she must shed her bias first.
Mr Ch DSE Sandeep. Nonsense !
The thrust of the article is that the Hindutva crowd uses its love of animals as a pretext to further persecute an already marginalised minority viz. Muslims. Additionally, she also asserts when Hindus commit crimes against animals, they are let off the hook. And both these assertions are backed up by proof and by the conduct of the Hindutva spewing politicians of the BJP that you and your ilk unquestioningly follow. Like sheep.
Attacking the conduct of the facsist and hypocritical torchbearers of the political philosophy of Hindutva is not the same as attacking the religion called Hinduism. Osama bin Laden, Abubakr al Baghdadi and others deployed the violent political ideology called Islamism and thereby tarnished the image of Islam. Likewise, Savarakar, Golwalkar, the RSS, the VHP , the Bajrang Dal, Adityantah’s Hindu Yuva Vahini have deployed the equally deadly ideology called Hindutva and are slowly destroying the image of Hinduism and India.
Aided and abetted by the likes of armchair gaurakshaks like you Mr DSE Sandeep.
For once I agree with you Zainab. The outrage should be universal – ‘Ahimsa Parmo Dharma’
Thank you for this nicely written opinion piece.
Very wise words Mr Pravin. Loved your comment.
If I would write this about Muslims or Christian, there would be hundreds of FIRs out against me. But looks like it is open season on Hindus. To educate the author, killing cows is prohibited for Hindus. Not using cow products when the animal has died a natural death. Or in these times, perhaps medically euthanised to rid it of agony. That was always the tradition. Yes, the most conservative would not use even those products,, but that certainly wasn’t the norm. Traditions around cow-slaughter are not dogmatic but highly pragmatic. Every modern study says it takes 17,000 litres of water and 28 hectares of pasture to produce just 1 kilo of beef. Our ancestors likely figured this out and hence the ban.
What you say is true, But can you point this shining light of your insight that you have shone on another religion or another view on you and your religion and views? Can you? Can you write a similar article on the blindness that exists in Islam, on how in the name of the book and the prophet what all is blindly perpetuated and is being followed?. Can you write how strict adherence to medieval rules, whom even the educated do not question, and questioning itself is considered wrong, have led to the increase in blindness of the Muslim society?.
The Hindu system has many outdated and unreasonable practices. It also has many things, that are logical and simply amazing. The usage of these is patchy , and due to the travails of time, colonial invasion, and greediness of the few, there is hypocrisy and blindness. This needs to be corrected. There are many Hindus who know this and point it out periodically, there have been new religions that are born because traditional Hindu society has been blind. Even now, you can write this article because there is a degree of freedom in the religion itself to criticize and correct. Else it would have been like Islam, where there are good aspects , but any criticism is treated as a blasphemy. This is what made India different, and i too like you pray this does not happen.
For this not to happen, what you should do is , like you have used your reason to write this article and prove that people are hypocrites, use your reason to write about how you cannot be reasonable in Islam, and how the way it is taught has led to blindness and fanaticism not just of the few but Muslims in general. We need to look at our shortcomings before we point figure at others. This you do and automatically other side will start corrective itself. Try.
I will wait for that article.
Hope the editors of Print also have the gall to print such an article.
I really hope that this discourse changes. It only creates further frictions. Instead of blaming the majority community for everything, journalists should be more responsible.
Mr/Ms San: You do raise many valid points in that article which I agree with.
Yes, Hinduism has been open to debate and there have been many voices that have criticised many aspects of the religion over the millenia. The Lingayat saint Basavanna (sometimes referred to as Basaweshwara), Guru Nanak, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Lord Bentinck and more recent personalities like Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Pandit Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore and several other thinkers and social reformers have questioned many atavistic Hindu social and religious practices. For instance, Lord Bentinck and Raja Ram Mohan Roy were instrumental in getting Sati made illegal. And I am sure you will agree with me that Hindus, not Muslims and Christians, Sikhs or Parsis believed in Sati.
So tell me, Mr/Ms San: Should a Christian man called Lord Bentinck have kept quiet and not brought about reform banning Sati and infanticide of females ? Indeed, many Hindus signed a petition in 1829 and appealed Bentinck’s decision to the Privy Council in London.
Hinduism – unlike Islam – has thrived precisley because it has absorbed the ideas and wisdom in other cultures and religions. Neither Islam nor christianity ever succeeded in gaining a strong foothold in the sub-continent, despite being the religions of rulers of the land.
Yes, you are right that it is willy-nilly impossible to question Islam, especially in the sub-continent where it is a minority religion. The examples of Taslima Nazreen, Salman Rushdie spring to mind. But should Hinduism follow the same atavistic path that Islam has chosen? Should we have Hindutva nutters like Dinananath Batra censoring schoolbooks and rewriting history from a Golwalkarian perspective ?
And finally, the author Ms Zainab Sikander is questioning Hindutva, the warped, wicked, fascist political ideology that Savarkar & Golwalkar created and not Hinduism per se. And the morphing of India into a Hindu Pakistan catalysed by Hindutva politicians.
I welcome her astute observations. They are 100% right and if that rankles the Hindutva crowd, so be it.
Fake secularist Zainab.
Basically trying to disturb India’s poise by bringing in devious and mischievous propaganda of Islamists.
This is standard strategy of these Islamists Viruses to hide behind Dalits and tribals.
At first opportunity they loot and kill Dalits and tribals and to get victimhood, include themselves with Dalits and tribals.
Chameleons and parasites.
The article reeks of hatred towards a particular religion. Wonder the author gives a hoot about the Indian constitution which she was eulogizing just months ago singing about secularism. This is why such people are looked down upon . Shame on her .She has failed as a human. No wonder, she sides with people who ethnically cleansed number of people in different parts of the globe.
And amazing read loaded with facts. But Hyenas will no doubt find fault with this.
They may even label the author an al-qaeda terrorist.
Muslim like you create hatred between us.You are Congress and commie lover who preaches hatred.If you do not like Hindus then please leave India.
Mr Sunil chohan. What if the article had been written by a Sikh ? A Hindu? A Christian? Or a Parsi? Where would you want them to go ?
And lest you forget, on the 34th Anniversary of Operation Blue Star, there are fresh Sikh voices being heard for the creation of Khalistan. So I guess, there are a lot of minorities who seem to be getting uncomfortable with your fascist ideology called Hindutva.
What an opening communal statement you had made. Maybe your outrage is burst after questions being raised on Kerala govt for an elephant’s assassination. Carry on your polarisation. After all you have precisely learned how to comeback. Fourth pillar is trembling bro…
Kaise kar lete ho ye sab🙄
Media soch ke tum pe koi case nhi thokta
This jihadi Zainab should be shown mirror of how brutal barbaric religion is the most violent faith.
Hello,
The writer is tagging an entire religion by calling out its followers as fakes – interchanging the terms hindutva & hindu, at will.
This is an offensive, anti-religious piece & I appeal to the Print to either take it down or let the writer apologise.
Surely, all religions need to be equally pampered in the eyes of the secular law ?
apriciate very well written very truthfull article love you
I feel that that lady deliberately writes anti Hindu articles to create controversy to drive up its readership. Otherwise would any serious journalist and a genuine media house print such an asinine article?
Anti-Hindutva is not the same as anti-Hinduism. But then, puerile commenters whose saffron blinkers prevent them from looking at the violence that Hindutva begets will continue to bray .. As you do Mr Subhasis Ghosh
Just imagine a Hindu writing such an article on Muslims in Pakistan or Bangladesh (i.e. erstwhile East Pakistan). What would be the consequences? One shudders to even think of the repercussions of such an audacious act.
And yet, here we have Ms. Sikander spewing bile on Hindus in secular India. Despite this, she and others of her ill complain that India is not secular enough, that it discriminates against minorities.
Each and every word written by her is truth.
You have to be an absolute moron to not understand it (as long as you’re not posting paid comments).
Ms Swagata Singh: We are in India and India has held itself up to much higher standards than Pakistan. But clearly, your role model is Pakistan. So why don’t you move there?
Zainab is back!
After getting her digital arse kicked for her support to Islamists and anti-nationals, she is back for more punishment.
The BJP IT cell with its fake Muslim handles is back !!
Sikander you are entitled to an opinion, and I respect that. But why would you go on and become judgmental on a community? When you say Hindus dont care, its the same as saying Muslims are terrorists, isnt it?
Journalism in India is already being ridiculed, mostly deservedly. I believe that The Print is not into publishing inflammatory and generic click-bait, even as OP eds. I will be following the trend, I do hope The Print lives upto its expectations from an expectant humble citizen.
It is not an opinion for god’s sake… She gave some hard facts to back her claims.
Either stop lynching people on the suspicion of eating beef or stop exporting millions of tons of beef.
Mr Swapnil Gautam: Yet another outstanding comment from you pointing out the glaring hypocrisy which is the very embodiment of the 56 inch chested Gujarati, the BJP and Hindutva infected bhakths !
Indeed, under the Modi government, beef exports from India have actually risen. And BJP MP Sangeet Som was the owner of Al-Dua food Processing a prominent beef exporter !
Diet in India reflects one’s religion, region, caste and class and one sees immense variation in practices when it comes to diet within Hinduism. Thus Hindus in Kerala eat beef, Hindu Dalits eat beef, Hindu lower castes eat beef as do people in Goa, West Bengal and in the North Eastern states.
How the Hindutvadis square the domestic consumption of beef and the massive export of beef with beef bans is indeed an enigma.
Please also see my comment about how the BJP slowly destroys the leather industry.
Shame print shame stop this fake secularism which in reality is appeasement
What kind of journalism is this !!chi chi chi chi print chi chi lajja lajja print lajja shame shame shame .Demonizing Hindus as always of it’s the way to be secular and lick muslims feet is bieng peace living then I abhor this kind of bigoted bbehaviour is highly condemned and dear anti hindu so called print it’s time u see facts first mosque to be made in the world india who gave shter to Paris Jews Hindus who have given their most important religious places to muslims and still say it’s ok hindus .j challenge u to rename mecca as ramgarh I challange u
Mr Saksham Jain: Criticising Hindutva is not the same as demonising Hindus. Pathetic that even educated people like you fail to distinguish between the violent, fascistpolitical ideology called Hindutva and the religion of Hinduism.
And whilst India may have been more tolearnt in the past, it has today, under the Modi regime degenerated into a Lynchistan where innocent Muslims get killed.
This lady time and again shows she belongs to camel desert culture where she needs to be deported asap. Shame such people are bred here. Thuuu
We’re giving a big competition to the desert cult by lynching people for eating food of their choice or for criticizing someone.
What she wrote is true.
Article by Sikander…
For muslims everything is fake except Quran.
It is exactly, the way the likes of Zainab Sikandar, Liberatis and the leftists react when Muslims kill Hindus, when Muslims lynch dalits… No reaction at all… But if even a cattle thief is lynched, hindus/BJP have converted india into lynchistan… These guys look to who is the lyncher….Are these guys any different????
Hey Gobarbhakt?
Even if they steal anything, what is the need to lynch animal thiefs? Is there no law and police?
Are we living in stone-age? Or medieval Saudi Arabia?
“Hindus don’t have any problem with cow slaughter or animal sacrifice unless it involves Dalits, Muslims, Christians or tribal people.” ! !
All Hindus really ? And that too only if minorities are involved eh?
This article is an insult to millions of kind and empathic Hindus who run shelter homes. It is a slap on the face of thousands of animal lovers and volunteers who happen to be Hindu, and who rescued street dogs and fed them during Covid.
What is this writer trying to achieve? Create more hate in an already fragile society?
This is the problem today. On one hand we have the ‘extremists on the right’ and on the other ‘extremists on the left’, and none wants to be neutral, talk facts and stay on topic without generalisations.
LIBERALS ARE DIVIDING THE PEOPLE OF INDIA AS MUCH AS THE RIGHT— BOTH ARE EXTREMISTS AND A DANGER TO THE IDEA OF INDIA BECAUSE ONE LACKS EMPATHY AND THE OTHER PRACTICES SELECTIVE LIBERALISM.
This Author is interested only in pouring out anti-Hindu verbiage.I wonder what the Author is trying to convey.If it is to aggravate the communal tensions in the country it will be indeed successful.I wish the Author visits Kerala and stays there for a while to understand inter faith harmony.It will help in understanding tolerance and multi-religious harmony.Right now the Author is only furthering the cause of Islamophobia.
You call this a report? 😂😂😂Lol. At first sight i thought it was a from a Madrasa mouthpiece playing victim card jargon about dalit , Christian , muslim blah blah. Even Dalits and Christian folks have started to understand your evil designs and sympathizing with them at your convenience . Shame on The Print.
Dear troll…
Scroll up and read the seven-letter word above the heading.
Is it a report or an opinion?
utter nonsense… doesn’t deserve to be published in a reputed journal. What an analogy “animal slaughter” with “mining activity”.
bashing Hinduism isn’t journalism. Just ask the world which religion they fear the most and then RIP your logic. Not just in India, one great relegion is feared throughout tje world. No prize for guessing. Would have loved it if any fault could have been found in useless quran or followers of it.
Exporting millions of tons of beef and lynching someone on the suspicion of eating beef is not our Hinduism either. Get your mindset right. Go visit a psychiatrist who can cure your bloodlust.
If your maths are so well, can any body furnish any statistics as to – what % of majority or minority population constitutes such criminals , terrorists, atankwadis etc? This may be reviewed on Global spectrum also. Displaying such stray cases here and there and give it a generic level making an attempt of nothing but a kind of triggering the emotional exploitation which is available in all the sides and does not resolve anything and the show goes on.