yes with my own eyes Mr. Mallu
Poor man's diet
Not only Muslims and Christians, but also India's Scheduled tribes and Scheduled castes - who account for 25 percent of the country's population, are beef eaters.
In the states of Kerala, West Bengal and most of the Northeastern region - where cattle slaughter is legal, beef is widely consumed.
"Beef is one of the most affordable sources of protein for the Dalit community," said Mohan Dharavath, President, Dalit Adivasi Bahujan and Minority Students' Association based in southern city of Hyderabad.
The Association organised two controversial "beef festivals" in the city's universities, serving beef curry and beef biriyani - a popular rice and meat dish.
The motive was to assert one's right to choose own food. The events drew huge crowds, including professors and students across faiths and castes, said Dharavath.
The student-wing of the BJP came out openly against the use of beef in university
canteens.
While universities are meant to be secular, "food politics" has seeped into canteens, Dharvath told Al Jazeera.
"Universities used to have separate mess halls serving pork and beef in the 1970s, but they refuse to do so now. Brahamincal ideas of what food is acceptable is imposed on everyone," he said.
A book on the dietary traditions in ancient India was banned for a while because it claimed that Brahmins, who occupy the top rung of Hindu caste ladder, were once beef eaters.
"It got me all kinds of threats," Professor Dwijendra Narayan Jha, a historian and author of the book, the
Myth of the Holy Cow, told Al Jazeera.
While Hindu religious fundamentalists have always associated cow slaughter with Muslims, Jha in his book pointed out that eating beef was common in Vedic and subsequent times among Brahmins long before the advent of Islam to India.
"There is no doubt that beef remained an important part of the Indian haute cuisine and cow was often killed in honour of guests. It is totally baseless to argue that Hindus never ate the flesh of the cow," he said.
Governments have also been instrumental in reinforcing these beliefs. For example, references to ancient Hindus eating beef were deleted from school text books in 2006. The process was set in motion under the previous BJP-led government.
A book on the dietary traditions in ancient India was banned for a while because it claimed that Brahmins, who occupy the top rung of Hindu caste ladder, were once beef eaters.
"It got me all kinds of threats," Professor Dwijendra Narayan Jha, a historian and author of the book, the
Myth of the Holy Cow, told Al Jazeera.
The ban on cow slaughter has also fuelled an underground business.
"Cows are often either illegally transported long distances to where slaughter is legal, such as southern Kerala state and neighbouring country of Bangladesh. Or killed in illegal slaughterhouses. There are an estimated 30,000 illegal, unlicensed slaughterhouses in India," said Poorva Joshipura, CEO of the animal welfare group PETA's headquarters in India.
Joshipura said that the leather usage is directly related to cattle slaughter, while cows involved in dairy production also undergo various cruelties.
Shafiullah who buys cattle from farmers' markets said: "Farmers can barely sustain themselves, we cannot expect them to care for unproductive animals."
"Why do not political parties buy the cows instead of us and ensure them a decent life? This is not about protecting cows, it is about playing politics," he said.
Source: Al Jazeera
cow slaughter hindu nepal | Ex Brahmin
