From labs at ports to check for cow meat to being fined for carrying cow urine, things seem to have taken an 'udderly' bizarre turn!
In the last year, the mass hysteria related to cows has reached new heights. It has oscillated from the ridiculous (women charged Rs 17k for failing to declare cow urine in New Zealand) to macabre (Dadri murder). Here are seven incidents which indicate that the nation has, quite literally, gone to the cows:
1) Kashmir MLA beaten up in Assembly for hosting beef party
An independent MLA from J&K, Engineer Rashid, was beaten up by BJP MLAs inside the Assembly after he organised a beef party to oppose restrictions on cow slaughter. Before proceedings of the House began on Thursday, BJP MLAs caught hold of Rasheed and thrashed him, as footage of the incident was beamed on TV channels across India. While senior BJP leader Nirmal Singh did apologise, he said Rashid hosting a beef party was wrong. The incident was condemned by CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and the National Conference
“This is the first time I have seen such behaviour in the House. Speaker suspends opposition members in a blink, here he said he will look into the matter and investigate.” Omar Abdullah told ANI. “If they can’t control their emotions they should avoid the House.
Meanwhile, CBFC member Ashoke Pandit who was terribly upset about the AIB roast justified the action saying people like Engineer Rashid only understand this kind of language.
2) Labs to check cow meat exports
It’s nice to know that the government is really, really proactive when it comes to important things like porn or cow meat export. Union Minister of State for Agriculture and love jihad conspiracy theorist Sanjeev Kumar Balyan made the announcement that to check the illegal export of cow meat, it would be monitored by a software called ‘Meat Net’. Balyan also said that labs would be set up at ports to check that no illegal meat is being exported. Isn’t it nice to see that taxpayer’s money is being used so diligently? (Read more here)
3) Man killed for allegedly eating beef
Perhaps the most macabre tale in the list, a Muslim man was murdered on 28 September in Dadri, based on rumours of cow slaughter. After an announcement made by the priest, who was allegedly prodded by a BJP member’s son, a mob visited the house of Mohammed Akhlaq and brutally murdered him after discovering some meat in his fridge. Even more ironically, the forensic team took the meat to check if it was beef (it wasn’t), which led his daughter to ask: “Will they bring my father back if it isn’t beef?” An even bigger question is -- why is everyone trying to justify the murder as something that was accidental? (Read: Is cow slaughter becoming the Hindutva equivalent of drawing the Prophet?)
4) The demand for a Cow Ministry
An organisation called the Bharatiya Gau Kranti Manch (Indian Cow Revolution Front) which is against cow slaughter, appealed to the Odisha state government to declare the cow as ‘The Mother of the Nation’ or ‘Rashta Mata’, according to an iamin.in report.
BGKM or the Indian Cow Revolution Front also demanded a separate ministry called the Go-Mantralay (Cow Ministry) devoted to the conservation and development of cows! A basic memorandum with five demands has been submitted to the state government by Gopalmani Praharaj which constitutes of the following:
- Formation of the cow ministry
- Total prohibition on cow slaughtering
- Prohibition of using chemicals in agriculture
- Usage of gobar gas in cooking
- Prohibition of farming hybrid cows
4) Cow urine as disinfectants in hospitals
One of the biggest government hospitals in northern India, Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh (SMS) is considering replacing phenyl with cow urine as a disinfectant. The hospital would use a product called Gau Clean. The order came from health minister Rajendra Rathore.
SMS hospital superintendent Dr Man Prakash Sharma said, "We have constituted a committee of three doctors which will test the effectiveness of the 'gau mutra' disinfectant." The committee set up to evaluate the effect of Gau Clean will analyse its effectiveness in areas like the ICU, hospital floor and on medical equipment."
Rajasthan's minister of Gaupalan (cow-rearing) department Otaram Dewasi said, "Our primary aim is to find out how cows can become a source of income. If we want people to keep cows, then it should also earn some revenue. At Pathmeda gaushala, the researchers are trying to make products from cow urine so that it could become a source of income." Read more here...
5) Woman charged Rs 17,000 for failing to declare cow urine at NZ airport
While many of us have often faced fines for failing to declare goods at airports, an Indian woman in New Zealand was charged 400 NZ dollars ((Rs 17,000) for failing to declare two bottles of cow urine. "When the officers started to inspect the contents of the luggage, they found two bottles of cow urine for medicinal purposes," said Antony Owen, Ministry for Primary Industries central region team manager for border clearance.
Owen said the belief that animal products have healing properties can stop people from thinking they need to declare it. "We probably get things like this because they are related to culture, religion or traditional medicines. When they fall into that category that can cloud people's judgement sometimes in what they're declaring," he was quoted as saying by New Zealand-based 3 News. Read more here...
6) Make the cow the national animal
Not happy with the maternal status that the cow seems to have, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij demanded that the Centre declare the cow the ‘national animal’. He told reporters that he would send a request to PM Narendra Modi. Earlier he had tweeted: “Declare Cow as National Animal of India instead of Royal Bengal tiger”. Read more here...
7) Muslim man saves cow from well
Even as people raged against the incident that took place at Dadri, a young Muslim man in Lucknow, UP saved a cow that had fallen in a well. To add more melodrama to the news, some reports said that the boy was apparently mid-Namaaz (prayer) when he volunteered to save the animal. Zaki was quoted saying: "I felt bad, what if the cow had broken a foot or hurt itself?"
The 20-year-old was lowered into a well with a strap attached to a crane and rescued the cow. Zaki’s efforts were rewarded by CM Akhilesh Yadav who was handed a Rs 2 lakh award for his bravery.
Frankly, to borrow a phrase from Joey in Friends, the cow's opinion (or of the people who claim to be her saviour) is no longer a moo(t) point!
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