Not only have Indians deliberately forgotten Muslim leaders’ intervention in 1948, issue of cow slaughter ban has still not been settled in the 21st century.
Bulandshahr legislator Sanjay Singh has called the open letter by 82 civil servants demanding UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s resignation ‘politically motivated’.
In the storm around Sinauli, many academics dismissed claims of chariots being found. And the public misinterpreted the chariots as a device planted by the govt to fortify Hindutva.
The report released at Charcha 2025, an annual gathering of India’s social development sector, found that women remain largely concentrated in low-value and routine roles.
Without a Congress revival, there can be no challenge to the BJP pan-nationally. Modi’s party is growing, and almost entirely at the cost of the Congress.
The reputation of Muslims is tarnished by some members of the saffron brigade. No one needs cow slaughter because it is detrimental to economic interest of the country. The productive cows and buffaloes have to be protected banning their slaughter. There is no religious divide on this issue. The present trend of blaming and defaming Muslims in general terms for cow slaughter should stop. Lynching people only on suspicion should be made a crime and all those who resort to lynching should be punished severely. Criminal laws of the country should be amended to prevent this crime.
Review: The British Origin of Cow-Slaughter in India
With Some British Documents on the Anti-Kine-Killing Movement 1880-1894, Dharampal & T. M. Mukundan, Published by SIDH, Price Rs. 495 (PB)
Dharampal’s works have consistently challenged the prevalent mainstream understanding and belief about the nature and functioning of Indian society and polity before the arrival of the British. His work has stimulated a radically fresh perspective on the nature, design, functioning and organisation of Indian society. It shows that the system bequeathed by the British must be seen as an alien imposition and India cannot revive and renew herself unless she rediscovers her own genius, talents and traditions. Some of his well-known works include: The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century; Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century; Civil Disobedience and Indian Tradition, etc.
This latest book by Dharampal is about one of the most significant movements in India, against kine-killing by the British, during the nineteenth century. The enormity of this movement and the threat it posed to the British may be gauged by the statement of Viceroy Lansdowne when he said that: “I doubt whether, since the Mutiny, any movement containing in it a greater amount of potential mischief has engaged the attention of the Government of India.”
While it may be generally known that a very large number of the cow and its progeny were daily slaughtered by the British for their army and civilian personnel in India from about 1750 onwards, very little is known, even to most scholars and historical researchers on India, about this India-wide anti-kine-killing movement against the British during 1880-1894. Even those among the few scholars who have taken some note of this movement have treated it as a Hindu-Muslim conflict. But such was not the case, as the documents presented in this book show that many prominent Muslims as well as the Parsis and Sikhs actively participated in the movement. The fact that the movement was directed against the British and not against the Muslims, as commonly believed, was very clear to Queen Victoria and her high-ranking officers. Queen Victoria says in a letter to Viceroy Lord Lansdowne, “Though the Muhammadan’s cow killing is made the pretext for the agitation, it is, in fact, directed against us, who kill far more cows for our army, etc., than the Muhammadans.”
This book counters the general impression that Muslims in India eat the flesh of cow, which is perhaps a myth perpetuated by the British. Though the Muslim community was encouraged to take up the slaughter of cattle, as the large number slaughterhouses set up by the British required professional butchers, but a majority of the immigrant Muslims, as well as the converted, seldom did take to eating of cow flesh. This is borne out by many clippings from the Urdu press as well as from the correspondence between British officials of that period, as documented in this book. The British tried their best, and largely succeeded in projecting this movement, which was in the words of Lansdowne himself ‘political’ in nature, to one which now appears to the educated Indian as a conflict between Hindus and Muslims.
This book, based on British documents, unfolds the story of this momentous movement.
The answer is that small farmers do tend to the cows till they die. Unlike you, who is only a bhogi (consumer), small farmers are palanhar (caregivers) too, and as such form a bond with the animals they rear.
My grandparents used to keep cows and we never abandoned any cow, until my grandparents grew too old to care for them. Then the couple cows they had at the time were sold.
Hindus should be aware of these Muslims’ crocodile tears for cow slaughter ban.After slaughtering thousands of Hindus and native Indians.They are now pretending before you,hindus.
I am a vegetarian and rever cow nominally as a part of religious rites. But, I have always wondered how can a farmer be expected to support an unproductive cow for its lifetime. Don’t give sentimental stuff like “Cow is like a mother, would you sell your mother when she becomes old”? It is an economic problem for a farmer. Secondly, how does one dispose of the caracass of cows. None eats dead animal’s meat? When I made similar comments elsewhere, some responded saying that charitable goushalas take in such cows. But, is that a permanent remedy for disposal of cows, dead or alive? I haven’t found satisfactory answer.
The reputation of Muslims is tarnished by some members of the saffron brigade. No one needs cow slaughter because it is detrimental to economic interest of the country. The productive cows and buffaloes have to be protected banning their slaughter. There is no religious divide on this issue. The present trend of blaming and defaming Muslims in general terms for cow slaughter should stop. Lynching people only on suspicion should be made a crime and all those who resort to lynching should be punished severely. Criminal laws of the country should be amended to prevent this crime.
Review: The British Origin of Cow-Slaughter in India
With Some British Documents on the Anti-Kine-Killing Movement 1880-1894, Dharampal & T. M. Mukundan, Published by SIDH, Price Rs. 495 (PB)
Dharampal’s works have consistently challenged the prevalent mainstream understanding and belief about the nature and functioning of Indian society and polity before the arrival of the British. His work has stimulated a radically fresh perspective on the nature, design, functioning and organisation of Indian society. It shows that the system bequeathed by the British must be seen as an alien imposition and India cannot revive and renew herself unless she rediscovers her own genius, talents and traditions. Some of his well-known works include: The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century; Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century; Civil Disobedience and Indian Tradition, etc.
This latest book by Dharampal is about one of the most significant movements in India, against kine-killing by the British, during the nineteenth century. The enormity of this movement and the threat it posed to the British may be gauged by the statement of Viceroy Lansdowne when he said that: “I doubt whether, since the Mutiny, any movement containing in it a greater amount of potential mischief has engaged the attention of the Government of India.”
While it may be generally known that a very large number of the cow and its progeny were daily slaughtered by the British for their army and civilian personnel in India from about 1750 onwards, very little is known, even to most scholars and historical researchers on India, about this India-wide anti-kine-killing movement against the British during 1880-1894. Even those among the few scholars who have taken some note of this movement have treated it as a Hindu-Muslim conflict. But such was not the case, as the documents presented in this book show that many prominent Muslims as well as the Parsis and Sikhs actively participated in the movement. The fact that the movement was directed against the British and not against the Muslims, as commonly believed, was very clear to Queen Victoria and her high-ranking officers. Queen Victoria says in a letter to Viceroy Lord Lansdowne, “Though the Muhammadan’s cow killing is made the pretext for the agitation, it is, in fact, directed against us, who kill far more cows for our army, etc., than the Muhammadans.”
This book counters the general impression that Muslims in India eat the flesh of cow, which is perhaps a myth perpetuated by the British. Though the Muslim community was encouraged to take up the slaughter of cattle, as the large number slaughterhouses set up by the British required professional butchers, but a majority of the immigrant Muslims, as well as the converted, seldom did take to eating of cow flesh. This is borne out by many clippings from the Urdu press as well as from the correspondence between British officials of that period, as documented in this book. The British tried their best, and largely succeeded in projecting this movement, which was in the words of Lansdowne himself ‘political’ in nature, to one which now appears to the educated Indian as a conflict between Hindus and Muslims.
This book, based on British documents, unfolds the story of this momentous movement.
Gururaj,
The answer is that small farmers do tend to the cows till they die. Unlike you, who is only a bhogi (consumer), small farmers are palanhar (caregivers) too, and as such form a bond with the animals they rear.
My grandparents used to keep cows and we never abandoned any cow, until my grandparents grew too old to care for them. Then the couple cows they had at the time were sold.
Also, the animals that die are simply buried.
Hindus should be aware of these Muslims’ crocodile tears for cow slaughter ban.After slaughtering thousands of Hindus and native Indians.They are now pretending before you,hindus.
I am a vegetarian and rever cow nominally as a part of religious rites. But, I have always wondered how can a farmer be expected to support an unproductive cow for its lifetime. Don’t give sentimental stuff like “Cow is like a mother, would you sell your mother when she becomes old”? It is an economic problem for a farmer. Secondly, how does one dispose of the caracass of cows. None eats dead animal’s meat? When I made similar comments elsewhere, some responded saying that charitable goushalas take in such cows. But, is that a permanent remedy for disposal of cows, dead or alive? I haven’t found satisfactory answer.