Events & Issues

New Delhi, 28 January 2021

Cow Cabinet

A MISADVENTURE?

By Dr S. Saraswathi

(Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)

The Cow Cabinet constituted by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is an initiative that is truly a world record despite its chances of turning a misadventure. It is   exclusively devoted to promote the welfare of cows – the holy animal worshipped predominantly by Hindus. Protection and conservation of cows is now the responsibility of a Cabinet in MP composed of six ministers -- Home, Revenue, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Panchayat and Forests.

The initiative has not come in a vacuum. At its back is the Rashtriya Kamadhenu Aayog constituted by the Government of India, which is silently completing a year on 2 February as part of Rashtriya Gokul Mission launched in December 2014 for bovine breeding and productivity. It is the result of Union Government’s initiative to enhance and utilise cow wealth.

Open elevation of cow as the animal deserving special respect and treatment in keeping with the Indian cultural ethos is a theme aggressively pursued in some States. Their enthusiasm to push their pet agenda is noticeable particularly among those working with slender majority so as to make maximum use of their tenure. It is broadly welcomed by common people in the country notwithstanding the politics it can raise.

Belief that an animal is sacred leads to dietary rules that prohibit its consumption and slaughter. Many religions in ancient days considered cattle as sacred.

The initial plan in MP is to build 2,000 cow shelters to house cows and pass a legislation regarding management of these shelters. A small Cow Cess is proposed to raise funds for maintaining the shelters. The State Government is also keen on boosting “cow economy” by promoting developmental activities surrounding cow protection, and also on establishing a research centre for this. Cow slaughter and transport were banned in MP in 2004. The State has also built the country’s first cow sanctuary in 2017.

“BJP is the guardian of Indian culture. It believes there are three means of contentment -- Gita, Ganga, and Gaumata. That inspires the decision to form a Gau Cabinet”, said the State Home Minister – a statement inter-linking cow with Hindu religion and Indian culture. When “cow” is a controversial subject and its very mention provokes communal passions, the inspiration for special cow protection must have been sought in developmental needs. The Cow Cabinet can become a model if it caters to economic advancement more than emotional satisfaction.

Cow protection is a priority for Uttar Pradesh Government also which is running cow ambulance and planning to build a cow sanctuary. Undoubtedly, there has been politics around cow. The Goseva Aayoga (Cattle Conservation Commission) constituted by the BJP government in 2012 was abolished by the successor Congress government in Karnataka.

But, all political parties in India are one in treating “cow” mainly as an object of worship for one religious group and its progenies like Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, though by association, other religious minorities are not averse to cow worship. Cow symbolism is a national trait. Indira Gandhi chose a cow and its sucking calf as the Congress symbol for the faction led by her that came to be called Indira Congress. Its religious appeal was obviously ignored.

The Congress has been promising to build 1,000 cow shelters in MP. Nationalist Muslims in pre-independence India advocated stopping cow slaughter by Muslims both for daily consumption and as mass ritual performance at Eid-ul-Zuha as the way for Hindu-Muslim unity. Cow Protection Movement was launched in Punjab in 1870s. Arya Samaj founded the Cow Protection Committee, which challenged the Muslim practice of cow slaughter that led to riots. Thus, cow entered politics and also gained a place in the Constitution under Directive Principles (Article 48) which says that the State “shall endeavour to prohibit the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle”.

Mahatma Gandhi regarded cow protection as the central fact of Hinduism, but did not favour special state patronage for cows. “We do not stop to think what true religion is and merely go about shouting that cow slaughter should be banned by law. In villages, Hindus make bullocks carry huge burdens which almost crush the animals. Is it not cow slaughter, albeit slowly carried out? I shall, therefore suggest that the matter should not be pressed in the Constituent Assembly,” he said. But, cow entered into the Constitution. Vinoba Bhave went on hunger strike to ban cow slaughter in 1979.

There are at least 25 State laws today banning cow slaughter in India. The earliest is the West Bengal Anti-Cow Slaughter legislation passed in 1950 followed by UP and Punjab in 1955.    Sale and transport of cattle/beef are criminal offences in some States. Gujarat and Haryana laws have prescribed a punishment up to 14 years imprisonment for cow slaughter. In other States, jail term ranges between 5 to 7 years. The latest is Karnataka law banning cow slaughter, but allowing beef eating.

In 2005, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of anti-cow slaughter legislations. 

In the North-East, Manipur Proclamation of 1939 declared that, “If anyone is killing a cow, he shall be prosecuted”. In the North-East, cow slaughter is not banned in any State today. Assam regulates it by restricting it to those “fit for slaughter”.

Animal worship has had been in practice almost across the world in different forms. Rituals involving animals is called “zoolatry”. Holiness attributed to an animal leads to restrictions on consumption and slaughter of the animals for food. Egyptian pantheon is especially fond of zoomorphism with many animals sacred to particular deities. Many religions have considered cattle as sacred. Among seven most sacred animals in the world -- cow, monkey, cat, dog, elephant, tiger, and snake -- cow was worshipped by largest number of people.

Sanctity of cow is displayed in four forms – abstaining from slaughter, abstaining from beef consumption, control of breeding and ownership, and belief in purification qualities of cow products like milk, curds, ghee, dung and urine. Faith in the divinity of cow is so deep in the country that many resorted to taking medicines made of cow products to prevent COVID-19.  Cow urine and cow dung are supposed to have disinfectant qualities.

Cow worship is a popular festival in many parts of India. During Pongal festival in southern India, one day is celebrated as Cow Pongal. Official support for the welfare of cows is a recent political development. Gokul Grams have been set up as cattle development centres.

The Uttarakhand High Court delivered an order in August 2018 declaring that the court was the “legal protector” for the “welfare of cows and other stray cattle” in the State. Nothing strange.    River Ganga was granted “living entity status”, and the deities in temples were granted the status of a juristic person by courts.

In this atmosphere of  cow worship and cow politics reinforcing each other, ideal solution will be  to accept Cow as the national animal – a cultural symbol beyond religion and politics, and as its protector – the people of India and not any government. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)