India's Hindu nationalists cook up plan to ban bovine butchery

In Hindu-majority India, where it is a crime to slaughter female cows, many states have pushed for tighter restrictions on the sale and consumption of beef. Last month, Maharashtra, India’s second-largest state, extended the ban to forbid slaying bulls as well as female cattle, with offenders facing a five-year jail stint and a $200 fine.

According to a recent New York Times report, three Muslim men have already been arrested in Maharashtra on charges of calf execution. Local authorities now require animal owners to provide pictures of their cows and bulls for inclusion in a police registry, ensuring a vigilant monitoring system in cases of mysterious bovine disappearance.

Government officials in Haryana, a Hindu nationalist-ruled state bordering New Delhi, are considering laws making bovine butchery equivalent to murder. If adopted, the legislation would ensure cow killers spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Despite Hindu devotion to the animal, India is the world’s fifth-largest beef consumer and second-largest exporter of beef. Within days of the ban, the red-meat business in Mumbai was forced underground, leaving restaurants scrambling for substitutes. Meat traders have taken to court to challenge the injunction, saying tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs as a result.

The crackdown on beef is not entirely a surprise. During his election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to enact a nationwide ban on cow slaughter. With the victory of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party last year, Hindu hardliners are pushing to expand the parameters of the restriction.

“This is a political decision,”said Mohammed Aqil Qureshi, president of the Buffalo Traders Welfare Association in New Delhi. “They want to gratify the Hindus and harass the Muslims.”

At half the price of chicken, beef is the poor man’s protein. It is widely eaten by low-caste Hindus and millions of Muslims and Christians. Reuters reports the hard-bitten anti-beef legislation discriminates against minority religions.

Practicing Hindus view the cow as sacrosanct, the living symbol of their religion. Krishna, considered the religion’s supreme deity, is depicted as a cowherd and protector of cattle.

Welfare groups run gaushalas, or cow shelters, where strays are fed and cared for. Many devout Hindus visit the gaushalas with temple-like reverence, bringing food, chanting, and bowing in obeisance. It is believed that feeding these abandoned beasts appeases the gods and fulfills personal wishes.

Pankaj Bansal, a New Delhi businessman and gaushala frequenter, praised the legislation: “The cow is our mother. The ban should be imposed all over the country.”

According to the Times of India, Mumbai’s court considers the beef ban a“reasonable restriction.” But for many Indians, it represents an unwelcome intrusion into their personal lives.

“Is the government going to tell us what we can eat and what we cannot eat?”said Danish Qureshi, a young New Delhi meat trader. “It’s like telling people they can’t eat sugar.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.