Ever since the BJP came to power, “cow protection” is being taken to an extreme level ( >Editorial and “ >Una issue rocks Parliament, Opposition stages walkout”, both July 21). So-called cow protection activists are only bringing disrepute to the revered animal. There is nothing wrong in skinning a dead cow but it is brutal and barbaric to flog and bludgeon a person for this. Have these self-proclaimed activists forgotten that India is one of the leading exporters of leather? When will attention be paid to rampant unemployment, malnutrition, rising poverty and inflation?
Radhika Arjun Prasanna,
Bengaluru
Do phrases like ‘gau mata’/‘gau raksha’ or the ‘cow is our mother and we are to protect it’ provide sufficient grounds to justify inhumane acts of cruelty and violence against the minorities? Does the political class have a solution to continuing acts of violence against Dalits?
Kanika Garg,
New Delhi
What is strongly emerging in India is a social and political system which institutionalises and transforms but does not abolish caste. Traditionally, Dalits do the skinning of dead cattle, salvage the skin and dispose of the carcass. It is a decent and profitable profession. What gives power to these so-called vigilantes is the slow movement of the law enforcement machinery. As a result, this brand of vigilantism is turning out to be more brutal and dangerous, be it political, situational or communal. What is happening is not peaceful ‘gau raksha’ agitations but a violent attempt at communal consolidation. There is some substance in Sonia Gandhi’s allegation that the Una incident is “just one example of the social terror this Government condones”.
C.V. Venugopalan,
Palakkad
Lumpen elements commit atrocities on the hapless and the downtrodden because “their religious sentiments have been affected”. I don’t understand why the religious sentiments of these people are not hurt when thousands of acres of forest land are submerged by big dams, corporate mining activities devastate tracts of fertile land and cruelty is perpetrated on animals. Whenever I hear about the hurting of religious sentiments and the atrocities that spring from this feeling of “hurt”, I am reminded of the wise words of the Mahatma: “A semi-starved nation can have neither religion, nor art nor organization”.
Sukumaran C.V.,
Palakkad
Dalits have been depending on much-stigmatised occupations for centuries on end to keep body and soul together. At the same time, with their inherited privileges, the upper castes can do without doing the “degrading, menial” jobs. The sanctified caste system involves not just the division of labour but also the division of labourers. Cow protection vigilantes enjoy the patronage of the upper castes and the tacit support of the party in power. In fact, they are let loose to attack vulnerable Dalits and show them their place in our hierarchical society. For the State government, ‘gau raksha’ is far more important than ‘Dalit raksha’. The dialectical dimension of the problem involving two ways of life between the haves and the have-nots cannot be wished away. All those who cherish the notion of human equality have to join the ongoing ideological and political battle against entrenched interests to secure Dalits their basic rights.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
