Indian Muslims fear cow vigilantism on Eid al Adha
Fearing more violence on the Muslim holiday, community leaders suggest lambs, goats, camels be slaughtered – not cows and buffaloes.
Indian authorities should promptly investigate and prosecute self-appointed “cow protectors” who have committed brutal attacks against Muslims and Dalits over rumors that they sold, bought, or killed cows for beef, Human Rights Watch said last April.
Eid al Adha is underway in India, and as part of the Muslim holiday's rites, animals are sacrificed to feed the poor.
Indian Muslim leaders however, have cautioned the faithful to steer clear of cows, and slaughter goats or lamb instead, to prevent mob lynchings by "cow vigilantes" in the name of animal protection.
Right-wing Hindu groups have accused some Indian Muslims and Dalits of cattle theft or slaughter. Violence against the latter groups has led to a number of lynchings.
Why is this a source of conflict in India?
In some Indian states, the slaughter of cows, a sacred animal in Hinduism, is banned, and the consumption of beef restricted.
This has been the case for many years. But violence has grown as Hindu hardliners and cow vigilante groups have increasingly asserted themselves since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.
Javed Anand, Indian civil rights activist based in Mumbai told TRT World that violence is nothing new, but it was rarer in the past.
“This phenomena of cow vigilantism we are seeing after certain state regularities is something special in the current period of the current regime,” Anand said.
“Muslims are systematically being targeted. This has not happened before.”
Muslims make up 14 percent of India’s 13 billion people.
Are Muslims the only target?
Muslims are not the only target, but most cow vigilante attacks target them.
Since 2010, 28 Indians have been killed and 124 others injured in cow-related violence. Twenty-four of the victims were Muslims, IndiaSpend, a data journalism website said in a report.
“I feel afraid. I don't even know if I will be able to reach home safely," Bashruddin Khandawali, a 24-year-old cousin of Junaid Khan, who was killed last week on the train, told Reuters.
In March, the bodies of two Muslim cattle traders were found hanging from a tree in Jharkhand. In June, members of a cow protection group in Haryana forced two Muslim men, who they suspected were beef transporters, to eat cow dung. In August, a woman in Haryana said that she and her 14-year-old cousin were gang-raped by men who accused them of eating beef.
How are Muslim communities responding?
Anand said the Muslim community is trying to keep tensions from bubbling over.
He said Muslim religious leaders from different sects issued a joint appeal asking Muslims not to sacrifice cows, an act which is banned in most parts of the country and to also refrain from slaughtering buffaloes, even though these are not banned.
“They said to sacrifice lambs or goats or camels instead,” Anand said.
All creatures are honoured in Hinduism. But the cow specifically is seen as a maternal figure and considered sacred as it provides life-sustaining milk.
Is the violence related to Modi’s Hindu nationalism?
Modi has not openly supported cow vigilantes, but his ascendant Hindu nationalist movement and a government ban on cattle slaughter have encouraged them to carry out a ruthless form of mob justice.
“In the face of these lynch mobs ... killing Muslims, attacking Muslims day to day, Modi, as a top political executive in the country, should be sending very strong message saying this is not rule of law,” Anand said.
Modi’s party has consistently said it does not make any distinction between citizens on the basis of religion.
Most of the victims who were killed in cow-related violence since 2010 were killed after Modi and his Hindu nationalist party won elections three years ago.
Modi refrained from speaking out on the issue for a long period of time. However, after a 16-year-old Muslim boy Junaid Khan was stabbed to death on a train on suspicion of possessing beef last June, he broke his silence.
Cow vigilantes patrol highways and country roads at night, hunting for cattle being smuggled to Bangladesh. Under the current trade laws of India, the export and import of beef (meat of cow, oxen and calf) is prohibited. Millions of people in the minority Muslim and lower-caste Hindu communities depend on work in the meat and leather industries.
“Killing people in the name of a cow is unacceptable. No one has the right to take law into his or her hands. We belong to a land of non-violence. Violence is not the solution to any problem,” Modi said.
Since coming to power, the Prime Minister has found it difficult to balance the competing demands of Hindu right-wing groups – some linked to his party – intent on promoting a Hindu ideology, and promoting development and an image of a modern, secular India befitting its growing economic influence.
Khan’s death sparked nationwide protests and a nationwide campaign became known as #NotInMyName.
How does the ban affect Indian trade?
“Hindus who depend on meat industry are also negatively affected by the ban,” he said.
“India is one of the world’s largest exporters of beef. The large slaughterhouses and the biggest meat-exporting companies were owned by Hindus.”
Exporters argued that the government decree against the beef and leather industry employing millions of workers was aimed at marginalising them.
In July, India’s Supreme Court suspended the government ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter.
This decision was applauded by the multibillion-dollar beef and leather industries.
Are women less important than cows? Indian photographer Sujatro Ghosh has a photography project aimed at highlight the growing violence against women in India, while also drawing attention to a wave of attacks on religious minorities accused of eating beef or slaughtering cows. People are getting lynched in this country to protect cows. But womens safety is neglected and violence against women is rising, he said. If we can protect cows, then why not women?
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