Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
Two days back the sarcastic remarks of Markandey Katju posted on FB about Gau Rakshaks and cow that ‘cow is nothing more for me than a dog or horse’ and within an hour thousands like of the posting appeared as response apart from comments in favour and against. This situation made me to feel that as it has hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus, it will be strongly condemned by RSS and VHP apart from many Gau Rakshak Samitis, organisations and what not, but till date I am really astonished to find complete silence of all such saviours of cow and this made me to go back to 2015, when Rajnath Singh at a speech to Jain saints in Indore said that he supports a national ban on this issue and Katju on 5th April 2015 has expressed in his writing that;
o Such bans make us a laughing stock before the whole world by displaying our backward feudal mindset. I regret to say that such bans are nowadays more for political considerations than anything else.
o Those reactionary right wing elements are behind such bans, which are not in the interest of the nation.
o I have myself sometimes eaten beef. I normally do not eat it of respect for wife and other relatives, as they are conservative Hindus.
o Those who raise a hue and cry against cow slaughter are not at all bothered by the suffering of tens of thousands of cows which are not properly fed. I have seen cows eating filth and garbage by the sides of the road but nobody is bothered about that.
Similarly the statement of retired Justice Markandey Katju, on 3rd Oct. 2015, at Varanasi “I eat beef and I don’t consider cow as mother, as it is an animal like horse and dog” was easily digested by so called Gao-Rakshaks, BJP, RSS and VHP. He also termed politicians as thieves and looters and said that they should be hanged and this statement was just protested by a group of students at IIT- Banaras Hindu University, when Justice was to attend a function and none else dared to take any legal recourse. Further on Dadri incident, while giving a statement he said “Most of the politicians in India are ‘Badmash’ (scoundrels) and ‘Nikamma’ (worthless). They should be hanged. They have looted the country. I consider these politicians as ‘Neech’ (contemptible).
The country will see a rebellion soon” was also silently accepted. While the statements of Katju are derogatory in nature and requiring legal action at the same time we have to agree to his observation that “Those who raise a hue and cry against cow slaughter are not at all bothered by the sufferings of tens of thousands of cows which are not properly fed. When cows grow old or for some other reason can no longer give milk they are often driven out and left to fend for themselves. I have seen cows eating filth and garbage by the sides of the roads. I have seen cows so thin that their ribs are protruding out of their flesh. If cows are made to starve is that also not cow slaughter? But nobody is bothered about that”. It made one Suresh Taneja to react (available on FB) also on the issue that the BJP has nine crore members as they claim. Why doesn’t each one of them adopt a cow? Why are they wearing belts and shoes? They should walk with naked feet or Hawai Chappals.
My intention for this write up is not to curse any Gao Rakshak, RSS, VHP or BJP but to suggest that an introspection is must for a common man and for the best available options on the matter in view of various incidents related with cow slaughter, maltreating many women found carrying meat and attacked by so called Rakshaks even without asking of what origin it is, beating Dalits who had been in service to dispose of the corpses of dead animals. None of the victims who fell to the target of these Rakshaks was above poverty line but were poor fellows and were also booked under provisions of law and put behind the bar. On the other hand the pages are humming by various objectionable remarks, statements and FB posting by none else but by retired Judge of Supreme Court Markandey Katju but none in the BJP, RSS, VHP and Gao-Rakshaks dare to raise a finger against him, when he has hurt the crores of Hindus of their religious sentiments by comparing cow in line with dog and horse.
All national TV channels flooded with a very minor issue conducting debates throughout the day, all tall leaders in the central government are very active on social media to project themselves as true face of sympathies for Hindu, why they become blind for such postings about cow, considered as Mata by crores of Hindus. The Sant-Samaj giving many sermons on the relevancy of cow in the Hindu Dharma is also maintaining silence.
It speaks of the delusory character of such propagators of Gau-Mata. Whereas self styled Gau Rakshaks have created such a situation that PM of India has to speak and to advice the state governments to open the dossiers of such elements fomenting trouble in the society and said “self styled Gau Rakshaks indulge in anti-social activities; cow vigilantism is just a ruse to hide their misdeeds”. He said that anti-social elements wore the mask of cow protectors during the day. He sharply denounced those anti-social elements that are running shops in the name of cow protection.
Concluding it becomes apparent that saviours of cow are just news makers and their venom is always directed towards low category people and they cannot dare to condemn any such statement of a man of the stature of Katju hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus and the statement of PM is to be endorsed that to open the dossiers of such element fomenting trouble in the society and that they during night hours such element indulge in criminal activities and during day light project themselves as saviours of cow in the guise of Gaou-Rakshaks.
At the last such statements hurting the Hindus with remarks on cow are required to be looked through the prism of law and not by silence or by creating law and order problems and debating on national TVs.
