BUT WHERE’S BEEF TO BAN IN THE FIRST PLACE?

The #AdarshLiberal gang, as twitter nowadays refers to them, in their ‘religious’ zeal to defame the BJP and its mentor the RSS as fascists and intolerant towards the so-called (religious) minority communities, has a long back crossed even the red line of sanctity, crossing which will only make you look like a retard of the highest order. Paranoia of the #AdarshLiberal gang ramped at the peak on 16^th May, 2014 as the unthinkable happened. People gave the BJP, led by Modi, a resounding and historical mandate- a mandate of 282 seats, i.e. majority in the Lok Sabha to the BJP. Since that day, the paranoid #AdarshLiberal gang has been attempting all sort of attacks- personal to political, on Narendra Modi. BJP and RSS and even the majority community, referred to as Hindus, too has been dragged into their attacks. Be it the matter of pinstriped suit, or Modi’s inevitable foreign tours, the #AdarshLiberal gang has attacked Modi, forsaking even the basic logic. These days, they have got a new toy, i.e. so-called #BeefBan by the BJP governments of Maharashtra and Haryana, to play with. It is, therefore, time to set the record straight to get rid of this nonsensical debate once and for all.

Let me begin with a frank admission that our ancestors ate beef. So what? Now just for the sake of information, our ancestors once offered human sacrifice as well. So what? With the evolution of civilization, our ancestors forsook Beef and began revering cow as it was a milch animal. Quoting Vedas, or any other Hindu scripture for that matter, to favour or oppose the so called #BeefBan hence serves no purpose. Can we, therefore, please consider the debate over whether Hindus once ate beef settled?

Let’s now dispel the propaganda which is designed to make one believe that till 26^th May, 2014, everyone in India used to eat #Beef in breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and ever since this ‘fascist’ BJP government has taken over the office, they banned #Beef, leaving everyone in the country so rattled that they’re now determined to challenge the ‘fascism’ of the government, elected by themselves only a few months back, by organizing countrywide  #BeefFestivals, taking a cue from the #KissOfLove events of ‘Krantikari’ people. It is imperative, at this juncture, to state that the BJP led central government has neither introduced nor passed any legislation vis-a-vis cow-slaughter ban in any of the Parliament Houses.

Chakravartin Samrat Ashoka was the first ruler, of the known history of India, to order restriction of number of animals slaughtered for the royal kitchen; but he did not ban animal slaughter altogether. It was Babur, the very first Mughal ruler, to ban cow slaughter and this ban continued till the British took over. His grandson, Jalaluddin Akbar, banned Haj because of its hazards and made it clear that “India cannot be ruled by Arab rules of a thousand years ago”! Akbar’s great grandson Aurangzib banned Tazias as ‘un-Islamic’. (Arabs know nothing about Tazias. In India, Tazias were developed in imitation of the Rath Yatra of Puri Jagannath.) So what did we learn? The tradition of ban was started by the very first Mughal ruler of India. So may I, with the kind permission of secularists and historians who hail the Mughal rulers as reformers and epitome of religious tolerance, now proclaim that the ban on cow slaughter is NOT an act of religious intolerance?

Let’s now talk about India’s erstwhile colonial masters, i.e. the British who are credited for bringing civilization in India! White man’s burden, you see! Indian Rebellion of 1857, known to us as India’s first war of independence, and known as The Sepoy Mutiny to the #AdarshLiberal gang! The final spark of that mutiny was provided by the ammunition for the new Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifles. These rifles, which fired Minié balls, had a tighter fit than the earlier muskets, and used paper cartridges that came pre-greased. To load the rifle, sepoys had to bite the cartridge open to release the powder. The grease used on these cartridges was rumoured to include tallow derived from beef, which would be offensive to Hindus, and pork, which would be offensive to Muslims. So what did we learn here? The usage of #Beef may lead to disruption of the public order and can be proven to detrimental to the communal harmony. India is a secular nation, after all! So what if Hindus are the majority community here? They too have their religious sentiments, which ought to be respected. Now if you ask me why, despite being an #AdarshLiberal, I am equipped heavy ammunition. I will then go on to quote- from Shah Bano to Satanic Verses, from Rangeela Rasool to Vishwaroopam, from UCC to family planning- and embarrass you.

Many members of the #AdarshLiberal gang are obsessed with the cult that Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi has become over the years. Should they not have made themselves acquainted with teachings of the very individual whom they so fondly call the Mahatma or Father of the Nation!? If they claim to be Gandhians, they should turn vegan or at least staunchly advocate a ban on cow slaughter as Gandhi asserted so! If they’re not ready to do so, I will break their jaws when they preach any of his lunatic ideas, including his celibacy experiments, to me next time!

Whatever I’ve written so far was just to show the mirror to our #AdarshLiberal gang. I will, now, try to make some serious arguments in favour of the ban on cow slaughter, or rather a ban on the slaughter of ALL milch and draught cattle altogether.

The article 48, of Directive Principles of State Policy reads as: “The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.” Hence, it wouldn’t be far fetched to say that it was the wish of our constitution makers to impose a complete ban on the slaughter of milch and draught cattle.

The Adarsh of the #AdarshLiberal gang, Nehru did not really have any regards for either the constitution or the makers of it. It was Nehru to bring the first amendment of the constitution known as article 19(2), infamously known as the original sin apropos of the freedom of expression. Therefore it is no surprise that the Central Government (of Nehru), in a letter dated 20 December 1950, directed the State Governments not to introduce total prohibition on cow-slaughter, stating, “Hides from slaughtered cattle are much superior to hides from the fallen cattle and fetch a higher price. In the absence of slaughter the best type of hide, which fetches good price in the export market will no longer be available. A total ban on slaughter is thus detrimental to the export trade and work against the interest of the Tanning industry in the country.”

Nevertheless, at present, there exists a ban on cow slaughter, albeit with varying punishment, in 25 states and UTs of India. I will, henceforth restrict my arguments to two states- Maharashtra and Haryana- as respective BJP governments of these states are at the centre of this fabricated controversy called #BeefBan by the #AdarshLiberal gang.

So far as Maharashtra is concerned, the (legal) ban on cow slaughter dates back to 1948. Cow slaughter was banned in the then Bombay state by passing the Bombay Animal Preservation Act, 1948. In the year 1954 it was replaced by Bombay Animal Preservation Act, 1954. In the year 1976, the then Congress government of Vasantdada Patil replaced it with THE MAHARASHTRA ANIMAL PRESERVATION ACT, 1976 which was in force till the President of India assented The Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995.

Then what exactly did the BJP government of Devendra Fadnavis do to leave our #AdarshLiberal gang so rattled? According to The Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995, (as has been reported by the media as the text of the said law is not yet available for us to see and verify) ban on cow slaughter is just an extended prohibition which also covers the killing of calves, bulls and bullocks. Calves, till now, could be slaughtered after acquiring the ‘Fit for Slaughter’ certificate from certain civic authorities. So outrageous, isn’t it!? If you ask me, it’s not outrageous at all. The punishment has been, from the existing imprisonment up to maximum of 6 months and fine of up to Rs.1,000, increased to imprisonment up to maximum of 5 yrs and fine of up to Rs. 10,000. The operative term here remains up to. Let me explain this through a simple example. The maximum punishment for murder under the Indian Penal Code is the capital punishment, i.e. death penalty by hanging till death. Does that mean every culprit, convicted for under IPC section 302, is awarded the capital punishment? The judiciary has the power to decide on the quantum of punishment based on the merits of each case.  It is still not clear whether there will be any punishment for merely eating a #BeefSteak, if you manage to get one, even under the amended law.

According to Riyaaz Amlani, head of National Restaurant Association of India, no restaurants that he knows of in Mumbai serves cow or bullock meat. What we eat in the guise of cow beef is actually Buffalo meat.  He said, “We’ve been eating buffalo meat for a lot of time and we (restaurants) have been only serving buffalo meat.” The new ban allows the slaughter of buffaloes whose meat is called carabeef which is generally seen as an inferior quality meat that constitutes 25% of the total beef market in the state.  So, with the kind permission of Shobha De, let me ask- WHERE’S THE BEEF (BAN imposed by the BJP government)?

Let me now take up the case of Haryana. Here too is a similar story, the only difference being that sale of Beef is prohibited even under the existing law. THE PUNJAB PROHIBITION OF COW SLAUGHTER ACT, 1955 (which also applies to Haryana), not only bans cow slaughter but also prohibits sale of beef. All that the BJP government of Manohar Lal Khattar has proposed is to increase the maximum quantum of punishment from 5 yrs to 10 yrs. That’s it! Here too, is still not clear whether there will be any punishment for merely eating a #BeefSteak, if you manage to get one, even under the amended law. So again, WHERE’S THE BEFF (BAN imposed by the BJP government)?

Let me now diss the fundamental rights crap of the #AdarshLiberal gang! As I’ve shown above, the ban on cow slaughter, and also beef ban was already in place even before the formation of BJP. So what is this outrage all about? Let us, only for the sake of argument, concede that BJP governments indeed imposed a ban on both cow slaughter and beef in Maharashtra and Haryana. So what? So bloody what? The freedom of eating anything and everything does NOT fall under the fundamental rights, bestowed upon the citizens of India by Constitution. Animals, not reared for meat, are entitled to protection from slaughter. Just because it’s edible doesn’t mean it’s legal. If you think that cow is the only animal whose slaughter is prohibited, you’re horribly wrong! According to THE INDIAN WILDLIFE (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972 hunting, or poaching of wild animals also is prohibited. The list of wild animals whose hunting or poaching is prohibited also includes some endangered species, e.g. rhinos, or tigers which are on the verge of extinction. Now what if I want to eat the meat of tiger or rhino? I will type the answer you give me to this question and will read it out loudly to you whenever you ask –WHERE’S THE BEEF?  [By the way, actor Salman Khan allegedly hunted a black-buck, an engendered wildlife species, and ate its meat. The case is still on. Sluggish judiciary, you see!]

There’s no religious angle in Directive Principles of State Policy of our constitution as its ethos are essentially secular in nature! Is it too hard to see the logic behind the article 48 of the constitution? Slaughter of milch animals will lead to a steep fall in the production of milk; this will lead to the inflation in milk prices. Despite being the largest producer of milk, India continues to face the shortage of milk owing to its ever increasing demand. As I know that few in the #AdarshLiberal gang have anything to do with Science, I advise them to visit this site to educate themselves about the nutrition facts of milk and its importance in daily diet.

It’s always better to deal with the question WHERE’S THE BEEF than WHERE’S THE MILK!

[PS: #AdarshLiberal gang must thank me as I didn’t utter even a word on ban on various varieties of food in their dreamland, the US!]