The recent attacks by the so-called cow vigilantes on few Dalit boys have faced a lot of criticism from all over the country. A video of Una district in Gujarat was released where few cow vigilantes were seen thrashing and severely beating some Dalit boys for skinning a dead cow. The video went viral in a few days and created havoc in the whole country.
Now the minority organization Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) has also something to say about the issue. They strictly condemned the attacks by the cow vigilantes and also asked the India n Government for a complete ban on beef export by the country. All this was stated in a seminar, which was conducted to feature the problems of illegal slaughter of cattle in India. The main aim is to curb cruelty against cattle. There is a common misunderstanding in the matter that ‘Beef’ is only cow’s flesh and this word is being incorrectly linked to the export of buffalo meat. They are requesting the central government to bring in clarity and prevent the misuse of the word.
The demands of the organization were put together in a report and addressed to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. This report was also endorsed by the representatives from Muslim and Dalit communities at the Mavlankar Hall in Constitution Club. The meeting came out with the conclusion that if the Government doesn’t take these demands seriously and fulfill them, protests will be carried out all over the country’s streets and grounds along with the ‘Ramlila Maidan’.
“We would like to express our apprehensions with respect to the atrocities, suppression and discrimination meted out to the Muslim minority, on the pretext of cow protection, beef eating, terrorism, national security, etc. Since the death of a man beaten to death after being accused of eating beef last September in Dadri, vigilante groups of cow protectors have flourished,” a statement released by the IMC.
“After a long silence, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, finally joined the fray, condemning attacks by Hindu cow protection squads and vowing to investigate those engaged in violence,” the statement said. “There have been several instances of religious violence against Muslims in recent past, frequently in the form of violent attacks on Muslims by Hindu mobs that form a pattern of sporadic sectarian violence between Hindu and Muslim communities,” it further added.
IMC also demanded that “the slaughter of cows and calves should be strictly banned in India. The Supreme Court of India, in a landmark judgment, upheld the constitutional validity of anti-cow slaughter laws enacted by different state governments in India. 24 out of 29 states in India currently have various regulations prohibiting either the slaughter or sale of cows. Kerala, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim are the states where there are no restrictions on cow slaughter.”
The memorandum also states that “many illegal slaughter houses operate in large cities such as Chennai and Mumbai. There are more than 30,000 illegal slaughter houses in India and efforts to close them down have so far been largely unsuccessful. The government of India should bring a legislation to completely ban the slaughter of cows and calves. Muslims are not interested in eating beef.”
The Congress MP Digvijay Singh also attended the meeting and targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue. He said that his election campaign said: “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” was a mere burlesque and once again cited the controversial ‘Dadri case’ to depict the different faces of Modi-led Government. He also joined the chorus of ‘Ban on Beef export’ and demanded the government’s clarification on the word ‘Beef’ to prevent its misunderstanding and abuse by people with vested interests.
