Special Report : Dadri to Moodbidri : The Secular Contrast

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Following the killing of a person on the doubt of cow slaughter in Dadri about one month back, more than 30 Sahitya Akademi Award winners returned their awards, media launched a high pitched campaign and pseudo-secularist politicians made a beeline to visit the victim’s family. Everybody is seen eager to express sympathy to the minorities but nobody is ready to pay attention to the killing of the Hindus by the Muslim butchers in various parts of the country. Uttar Pradesh Government gave Rs 45 lakh as compensation to the family of Akhlaq and four flats in Greater Noida. But nobody even thought of giving even a single penny to the family
members of the Hindus butchered by the fanatics. Here are some incidents of this ‘Secular Contrast’ reported during the last few weeks.

Bengaluru: The nation was shocked by two heinous incidents recently; a man was killed for allegedly eating Beef in Dadri (Uttar Pradesh), while another was killed at Moodbidri (Karnataka) for championing the cause of anti-cow slaughter. Dadri incident needs no explanation as the entire nation knows about it; people hardly know anything about Prashanth Poojary, the flower merchant from Moodbidri who fought against illegal cow smuggling. His family is in dire straits, yet there is neither condemnation of his death nor a courtesy call by politicians. The reason—Prashanth is a Hindu, a member of Bajarang Dal who was fighting for ban on cow slaughter and didn’t support beef eating!
Prashanth (29) was selling flowers at Moodbidri market when six persons came on two bikes and hacked him to death with sharp weapons on October 9. He was rushed to a hospital but couldn't survive. His family members claim that just before his death, Prashanth revealed important details about his killers to the cops. His probe turned mysterious as there were no arrests in the initial days and probe didn’t head anyway. Meanwhile, Vaman Poojary, a key witness of the murder, hanged himself to death under mysterious circumstances. The other eye witnesses claim that they are getting threats from international numbers including Pakistan.
Prashanth's father said his plight was such that instead of doing shraddh of his ancestors in Pitru Paksha, he was forced to do it for his son. In a State ruled by Congress, none of the ministers bothered to visit his house or even speak to his family members. His family is suffering from severe financial crisis as the main earning member is no more. Though a few philanthropists have taken up the task of collecting money, the government is conspicuously silent on the whole issue.
Now, if one looks at Dadri to Moodbidri, we wonder why Prashanth's death didn't receive the due coverage it deserved. We often wonder that when a majority community is supporting anti-cow slaughter because we see cow as our mother and we can’t tolerate killing of our mother, the incidents of people being killed are always ignored and neglected. Siddaramaiah-led Congress government which was in the forefront of cancelling Goseva Aayog (which was established by the previous BJP government to protect the cows in the State) has no time even to condemn the death.
It is being projected that only beef eaters are attacked. However, many don't know that the incidents of attack on cow protectors are far more in number than the attacks on alleged beef eaters. Is this bias justified? Police have arrested eight Muslim youth in connection with the murder of Prashanth and recovered the sword used in the crime. In the case of Kannada rationalist and literary scholar MM Kalburgi who was killed by unkown people and police is yet to arrest anyone, the so-called secular groups put a blame on Sangh associated organisations but in the case of Prashanth Poojari, even after police arrested Muslim youth, not even a word is uttered by pseudo-secularists.
Mahendra Munnot, anti-cow slaughter book writer, thrashed in West Bengaluru
Another news is from West Bengaluru where a 49 year old medical shop owner, Mahendra Munnot, who wrote a book Why cow slaughter should be banned, was badly beaten up by a mob outside government school in Chandra layout on October 1. The mob also attacked his friend (Rajesh Rai) and car driver (Upendra). The incident took place around 12 noon when Mahendra Munnot and others were distributing books to school children on why cow slaughter should be stopped. Munnot has been working with dedication for the cause of cow protection. He regularly organises public awareness campaigns and programmes about the importance of protecting the cows, and wrote a book on the subject.
For over a week, Mahendra and his associates noticed regular incidents of cow smuggling in Gangondanahalli locality. They clicked pictures, collected evidence and pressed the police to take action. Initially, the police refused to even file a complaint, but finally relented. However, there was no follow up action despite the complaint. When questioned, the police admitted that “this is only which we can do”. On October 1, Mahendra went to MMI School (a private school) for distributing his book on cow. He was accompanied by his driver Upendra and friend Rakesh. After he finished distributing the books and was sitting in his car getting ready to leave, a mob of about 50 Muslims surrounded the car and unleashed a vicious attack. Armed with deadly assault weapons and stones, the mob smashed Mahendra’s car and injured the inmates grievously. Mahendra and Upendra suffered severe injuries on the face, arms, legs, and other parts of the body. Even as they tried to get out of the car to save themselves, one of the Muslim goons pinned Upendra down on the ground and threw a huge stone on his chest. Eventually, the teachers and other school staff intervened and locked the victims up safely inside one of the rooms in the school. The mob chased them down there and pelted stones at the door and windows, breaking them. The Muslim mob fled the scene by the time the police arrived.
Gau Rakshak shot dead in Gurgaon
A Gau Rakshak Sandeep Kataria (32) was shot dead near Basai Road in Gurgaon on October 14 evening when he was at his cowshed. He was actively involved in cattle rescue operations in Gurgaon and was also a member of Gau Rakshak Association. He ran a cowshed for rescued cattle near Basai Village. Kataria received three bullet wounds—one each on his face, head and in the shoulder.  He was rushed to the Medanta Medicity Hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The police received three bullet shells from the spot.  
Vikrant Yadav killed in Gurgaon by cattle
smugglers
Another Gau Bhakta Vikrant Yadav was murdered in Gurgaon on August 25, 2013 by a gang of cattle smugglers when he was chasing a vehicle transporting cows for slaughter. Local people on October 14, 2015 organised a protest near Sohna Chowk and marched towards the mini secretariat shouting slogans demanding justice for 22-year-old Yadav. They said the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government had promised 'martyr status' for Yadav, Rs 50 lakh compensation for the family, government job for Yadav's sister and naming a Chowk on the Pataudi-Gurgaon road as “Shahid Vikrant Singh Yadav Chowk”. But the government did not fulfill even one of the promises. Due to heavy pressure the Gurgaon Police has
recently arrested a man, Tahir (32) for this murder.  

Pramod Kumar in Delhi,
R Guru Prasad in Bengaluru

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