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Hindu reverence of the cow in India ignores the value of beef protein for marginalised minority groups in the diverse nation.
A blanket ban on the sale of beef in India is likely to have profound consequences for social cohesion.Photo: Reuters
When was the last time any government entered citizens' kitchens and opened the fridge to make sure no "forbidden" food was being eaten?
If the Indian government goes ahead with the idea currently being bandied about to introduce a national ban on beef-eating, it will join the small number of governments around the world that have declared certain foods to be beyond the pale.
Pork production and consumption are banned in Saudi Arabia. In Israel, pork production is banned, although it is permitted in Christian areas. In India, cow slaughter is already banned in 20 out of 29 states, with two more state governments recently joining the list and imposing punitive penalties. Violators can be punished by up to five years in prison. Now India's home minister Rajnath Singh has said he might go ahead with a nationwide ban on the possession and sale of beef.
The issue is complex and volatile, touching as it does on majority versus minority rights, religion, food habits, livelihoods, caste and culture.
It's worth taking a moment to understand how deep the special status of the cow goes in the Indian consciousness. My father, for example, was not a Hindu but a Sikh, and lived most of his life in Britain. And yet, while he happily ate meat in Britain, he would not let beef into the kitchen because he grew up in India, among Hindus, for whom it was totally unacceptable to eat beef.
Imagine, therefore, how much stronger such feelings are in the minds and hearts of the some 800 million Hindus? The belief of the Hindu right is that the majority must have its way and if it feels offended by cows being killed and eaten, then this practice must be banned. This argument cannot be tossed aside lightly. It can be easy to disregard the sentiments and beliefs of the majority out of a concern to protect minorities and their cultures.
And yet a ban is unfair to those millions of Indians for whom the cow is just a tasty steak, especially for the 170 million or more dalits (formerly known as untouchables). For centuries, dalits had no choice but to eat beef because of the sub-human existence forced on them by the upper castes. Since the upper castes shunned beef, it was the only meat impoverished dalits could afford. Mutton or chicken were unaffordable. Beef therefore became an integral part of their diet and the main source of protein. For good measure, the upper castes despised dalits all the more for eating beef, as if they had any choice in the matter.
It's a bit rich that they now want to ban beef from dalit kitchens. Given that mutton, chicken and fish are about twice as expensive as beef, what are dalits meant to eat? Foie gras?
If India, in all its infinite complexity and diversity, is to function peacefully, it is best to leave food habits to personal choice. If the Hindu majority bans beef, what's to stop the 176 million Muslim minority agitating to ban the consumption of pork, which they find repulsive?
Nosing around other people's food habits does not help social cohesion. Some apartment blocks in Mumbai predominantly occupied by upper-caste vegetarian Hindus have even enforced an informal ban against Muslim tenants moving into vacant flats. They find the odour of meat being cooked repugnant and say their sensibilities are assailed if the odour wafts up to them from a neighbour's open kitchen window.
The other reason for opposing a nationwide ban on cow slaughter is the niggling suspicion that it is being enforced for political gains by right-wing Hindus to win Hindu votes, rather than a genuine reverence for the cow.
As emaciated cows amble all over India, foraging for food, you can only wonder why their owners don't feed them if they revere them so much. They usually stop feeding them when they stop producing milk because they feel the expense is pointless.
This is why Indian vets find plastic bags inside cows' stomachs. The poor things eat plastic bags when hungry. Speaking about the need for an anti-plastic-bag drive last week, India's environment minister Prakash Javadekar said about 30 kilograms of plastic had been found inside the stomachs of some dead cows.
Sometimes it's best to concentrate on the small details rather than the big picture. That way, India won't end up saving the cow in order to starve her.
Amrit Dhillon is a Delhi-based freelance journalist.
A blanket ban on the sale of beef in India is likely to have profound consequences for social cohesion.Photo: Reuters
When was the last time any government entered citizens' kitchens and opened the fridge to make sure no "forbidden" food was being eaten?
If the Indian government goes ahead with the idea currently being bandied about to introduce a national ban on beef-eating, it will join the small number of governments around the world that have declared certain foods to be beyond the pale.
Pork production and consumption are banned in Saudi Arabia. In Israel, pork production is banned, although it is permitted in Christian areas. In India, cow slaughter is already banned in 20 out of 29 states, with two more state governments recently joining the list and imposing punitive penalties. Violators can be punished by up to five years in prison. Now India's home minister Rajnath Singh has said he might go ahead with a nationwide ban on the possession and sale of beef.
The issue is complex and volatile, touching as it does on majority versus minority rights, religion, food habits, livelihoods, caste and culture.
It's worth taking a moment to understand how deep the special status of the cow goes in the Indian consciousness. My father, for example, was not a Hindu but a Sikh, and lived most of his life in Britain. And yet, while he happily ate meat in Britain, he would not let beef into the kitchen because he grew up in India, among Hindus, for whom it was totally unacceptable to eat beef.
Imagine, therefore, how much stronger such feelings are in the minds and hearts of the some 800 million Hindus? The belief of the Hindu right is that the majority must have its way and if it feels offended by cows being killed and eaten, then this practice must be banned. This argument cannot be tossed aside lightly. It can be easy to disregard the sentiments and beliefs of the majority out of a concern to protect minorities and their cultures.
And yet a ban is unfair to those millions of Indians for whom the cow is just a tasty steak, especially for the 170 million or more dalits (formerly known as untouchables). For centuries, dalits had no choice but to eat beef because of the sub-human existence forced on them by the upper castes. Since the upper castes shunned beef, it was the only meat impoverished dalits could afford. Mutton or chicken were unaffordable. Beef therefore became an integral part of their diet and the main source of protein. For good measure, the upper castes despised dalits all the more for eating beef, as if they had any choice in the matter.
It's a bit rich that they now want to ban beef from dalit kitchens. Given that mutton, chicken and fish are about twice as expensive as beef, what are dalits meant to eat? Foie gras?
If India, in all its infinite complexity and diversity, is to function peacefully, it is best to leave food habits to personal choice. If the Hindu majority bans beef, what's to stop the 176 million Muslim minority agitating to ban the consumption of pork, which they find repulsive?
Nosing around other people's food habits does not help social cohesion. Some apartment blocks in Mumbai predominantly occupied by upper-caste vegetarian Hindus have even enforced an informal ban against Muslim tenants moving into vacant flats. They find the odour of meat being cooked repugnant and say their sensibilities are assailed if the odour wafts up to them from a neighbour's open kitchen window.
The other reason for opposing a nationwide ban on cow slaughter is the niggling suspicion that it is being enforced for political gains by right-wing Hindus to win Hindu votes, rather than a genuine reverence for the cow.
As emaciated cows amble all over India, foraging for food, you can only wonder why their owners don't feed them if they revere them so much. They usually stop feeding them when they stop producing milk because they feel the expense is pointless.
This is why Indian vets find plastic bags inside cows' stomachs. The poor things eat plastic bags when hungry. Speaking about the need for an anti-plastic-bag drive last week, India's environment minister Prakash Javadekar said about 30 kilograms of plastic had been found inside the stomachs of some dead cows.
Sometimes it's best to concentrate on the small details rather than the big picture. That way, India won't end up saving the cow in order to starve her.
Amrit Dhillon is a Delhi-based freelance journalist.
