Скачать или смотреть 'The Killer Cow' (Malayalam) by Ravichandran C

Noted Freethinker and author Ravichandran C talks about the political history, present and possible future of cow politics in this presentation introducing the newly launched Malayalam book( http://www.dcbooks.com/)"ബീഫും ബിലീഫും" (Beef and Belief) from the perspective of reason.

This speech discusses how the cow got into Indian politics as a hindrance to democratic values, the story of how even with the support from either side of the political spectrum in India this bill has not been passed the yet, how the recent fascist movement has made the cow their banner, the inhuman side of this politics of faith and how the politics of Kerala and India will look like in the future and how it ought to be in detail and depth.The speaker traces the history of beef eating in India right from the vedic period. The upper class hindus called brahmins who are lesser than 5% percent of population, used to eat meat in the vedic period. They also sacrificed cows and bulls in the yagas. But, somehow, they stopped doing so later(between BCE 4 th century-CE 4 th C). Probably under Buddhist and Jainist influence. In India, cow is a holy animal for many Hindus. It was also used as a political tool in the nationalist movement against British imperialism. In 1857, the first war of independence, the unrest in the British-Indian army was insinuated by the rumour that the fat of cows and pigs were used in the cover of cartridge that the soldiers required to open with mouth. The Hindus and Muslims in the army turned against colonial masters on account of this. The British successfully suppressed the rebellion. Later, in 1880's Kuki-namdhari sikh movement in Punjab was motivated by cow protection. In 1883, Swami Dayananda Sarswathy, the head of Arya samaj, started Gorakshini samithis all over north India. It led to religious conflicts between hindus and muslims 1883-1917 period. Three big riots happened in India in which at least 100 people killed. The father of the nation, MK Gandhi, Tilak, Lala Lajpathrai were the champions of cow protection in national politics. After independence, cow slaughter was partially or completely banned in 24 out 29 states in India. A blanket ban on cow slaughter is yet to manifest due to strong opposition from Kerala, West Bengal and North eastern states. India's socialist prime minister Jawharlal Nehru was firmly against total ban on cow slaughter in India. Article 48 of Indian constitution(directive principles) only suggests that due to agricultural and economic reasons slaughter of milch and draught animals like cow may be minimized as much as possible. This is only an advice to the states of the union and the same is not legally enforceable. Article 48 is good enough to vindicate banning cow slaughter as envisaged in the laws implemented by many state governments in India. The ruling party at the centre, BJP, now uses cow slaughter issue as a political tool to get electoral gains. But the election results in the recent Bihar assembly polls proved that such divisive communal policies were of little impact in the electorate.Widespread intolerance towards liberals and minorities have become the hallmark of present day India under the rule of the Hindu nationalist party, BJP. Earlier this year, Barack Obama himself commented on " acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation". The current trend of "poisoning politics with religious hatred" under the present Indian Government has been criticized far and wide. See this recent editorial in New York Times : http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/opi...


One of the most macabre expressions of this growing intolerance in India happened on the night of 28 September 2015 in Bisara village near Dadri, Uttar Pradesh. A 50-year-old man, Mohammad Akhlaq, was beaten to death and his 22-year-old son severely injured by a mob, for the "crime" of eating beef.See:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/m...
Even as the Prime minister of the country chose to remain silent over the incident, people all over India raised their voices .
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/w...
This talk is one such voice of dissent against the prevailing climate of religious intolerance and jingoism in India.
A Rebuke to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi
His party’s loss in Bihar is a clear message to stop divisive politics and start delivering on promises of economic development.
nytimes.com



About speaker:   / .  .