Two years too late, but the Home Ministry has finally asked Indian states and Union Territories to not tolerate any incidents of attack on individuals in the name of cow vigilantism, on Tuesday.
After the BJP government came to power, violence in the name of cow vigilantism started with the mob lynching of 52-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq in UP’s Dadri over alleged consumption of beef.
In devastating irony, currently it is Akhlaq’s family members who have an FIR against them based on the complaints of the uncle of one of the accused in Akhlaq’s murder case.
Since 2015, several similar incidents have made headlines, after more incidents of Gau Rakshaks harassing cow herders, dalits, muslims, were reported.
The perpetrators not only terrorised their victims into drinking cow urine, eating cow dung, but also boldly shot videos of their act, which were later circulated until they found their way to the media.
In the latest incident of cow vigilantism, Gau Rakshaks beat up four dalit youths who were simply doing their job of skinning cow carcasses, which in turn led to a massive protest in Gujarat, where the Dalit community refused to clean up cow carcasses.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the growing criminal tendencies of cow protectors, and asked the states to take stringent action against them for trying to create “tension and conflict” in society.
He, however, failed to mention whether any actions would be taken against certain extreme-right wing party leaders who have been vocally professing their support for such acts of violence along with making provocative statements.
Despite Modi’s statement, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an RSS affiliate vowed to continue its work related to protection of cow, saying that they have been doing it for a long time and will continue the work.
Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha president Chandra Prakash Kaushik demanded that the Prime Minister withdraw his comments as they have hurt the Hindu community.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)