If the countries of Arabic ethnicity can ban pork, then why can’t the country with the largest Hindu population ban BEEF?
Asaduddin Owaisi and so many other Muslims as well as Hindu secularists tell us that they have so-called freedom to eat whatsoever they want to eat. Yes, you have the freedom to eat whatsoever you want to. But you also have the freedom to urinate. But do you pass water openly in the public? No. The reason is that the act (urinating in public) makes a MAJORITY of people uncomfortable. Can’t we extend the same logic to Cow slaughter?
One of my so-called secular friends tells me that he does not urinate in the public, not because the majority is offended but because the environment is polluted. OK, if you are citing environmental reason, you should be aware of the environmental hazards of cow slaughter as well.
Please go through the study of some students along with their teacher in the Aligarh University. A research study was done by Abha Lakshmi Singh, Saleha Jamal, Shahnawaz Ahmad Baba, and Md. Manirul Islam of department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University on “Environment and health impacts from slaughter houses”. Please note that all of them except one were Muslims.
In the study, field surveys revealed that there were innumerable authorised and unauthorised slaughter houses inside the city of Aligarh. Investigations revealed that all slaughter houses suffered from very low hygienic standards, posing both environment and health hazards for the society. This was due to indiscreet disposal of waste by the way of highly polluted effluent discharge, burning and boiling of bones, hooves and meat etc. The result showed that for the residents living in the immediate vicinity of slaughter houses, both the environmental conditions and their health conditions were worst. The study showed that “the number of cattle slaughtered in Bharat between April 2009 and March 2013 was nearly 8 million”. In Bharat there are approximately 3,600 legal (authorised) and over 3,200 illegal (unauthorised) laughter houses. Most of them are creating enormous hygienic and environmental problems because they are functioning without adequate basic amenities like water supply, lighting, ventilation, and sewerage etc. Efforts to close the illegal open slaughter houses have so far been largely unsuccessful”. It was found that “numerous illegal abattoirs are often housed in Aligarh’s individual households. Field surveys have revealed that in colonies…. more than eighty per cent of households slaughtered buffaloes in their houses”. It was found that most of the slaughter houses had capacity to slaughter only one thousand animals per day. But “these factories were slaughtering nearly 25,000 animals daily. Open illegal slaughtering was rampant” “Animal parts are seen strewn all over the fields and open places. Dogs and vultures were seen to preying on these remains”. When asked “nearly three fourth of the respondents reported that the slaughter houses were nuisance for them for they helped in spreading various infections”. In the study, it was seen that “the residents living in the vicinity of the slaughter houses reported headache, body ache, weakness, cough, shortness of breath, typhoid fever, jaundice, diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, malaria etc.” It was found that the waste hump helped breeding mosquitoes and flies. It also pollutes ground waters. The study revealed that the slaughter houses were instrumental to pollutions of earth, air and water in their vicinity. In the way of pollution, they caused air borne, water borne, food borne and contagious diseases.
In Bharat, If we can observe “Save Yulin” for 2 continuous days, to express our opposition for the large scale DOG slaughter that takes place in China in the name of a tradition, I certainly believe that we should have enough mercy to stand against cow slaughter in Bharat, even if we do not subscribe to the concept that cow is treated as Mother Cow in Bharat.
If some politicians and intellectuals can openly oppose hanging of terrorists like Yakub Mammon, Azmal Kasab and Afzal Guru, just to honour the sentiments of the Muslims of Bharat, why can’t they extend the same feeling towards Hindus of Bharat who are more peaceful than Muslims?
Finally, on the premises of ethnicity, why should the Bharatiya be denied their right to have a unique ethnic identity?
- If the countries of Arabic ethnicity can ban pork, then why can’t the country with the largest Hindu population ban BEEF?
- If a small country like Tajakistan can ban “Arabic names for children” just to create an individual identity, why can’t Bharat, the land of a highly developed ancient civilisation, with a unique cultural heritage, carry forward its proud legacy?
Nishant Das (The writer is a senior journalist)
