What Hindus & Muslims Must Learn From The Dadri Lynching Incident

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India witnessed a shocking happening of events when a Muslim family in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh was attacked by the killer mob (Hindus) and the head of the family was lynched on suspicion of slaughtering cow and storing its meat in the house.

It was later found to be ‘mutton’ and not beef in the house but the loss was already done. The false announcement made in the temple premises, with a communal purpose, had already showed its colors.

The tension between the two communities reached its zenith, and politicians took advantage of the situation to solve their ‘political purpose’

But what made the peace loving area of Dadri, residing Hindu and Muslim population, turn into blood field instantly?  Why just the rumors of an animal’s slaughter impelled Hindus to take the life of a person?

To understand the matter in detail first we have to look why cow is so important to Hindus.

Cow slaughter, in India, is a historically taboo topic because the cow has been traditionally given the status of sacred animal in Hinduism. The cow is a symbol of wealth, abundance, strength, selfless giving and full of earthly life in Hinduism.

Hinduism is the major religion in India. Out of the total population, 79.8% of the people recognize themselves as Hindu.

Currently, 24 out of 29 Indian states have different rules & regulations prohibiting the slaughtering of cows. The recent one to join the list was Maharashtra, where beef eaters and sellers made a huge hue & cry over the ban.  The states where there is no restriction on cow slaughter are Kerala, West Bengal, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland and Sikkim.

Quite apparently it is the case of religion intolerance that made cow slaughter look like a heinous crime and man slaughter the only revenge in the Dadri lunching case and many others that happened previously.

However, India is a secular country by nature as it houses people from different religions and give them the equal rights. Even our constitution’s structure is largely based on the secular quotient of the nation.

In 1947, Mahatma Gandhi said some excellent words when people requested them to ban the cow slaughter in India.

“I have been long pledged to serve the cow but how can my religion also be the religion of the rest of the Indians? It will mean coercion against those Indians who are not Hindus”

In today’s scenario, his words are the guiding light and are needed to be followed by the people of every religion living in India, especially Hindu & Muslims.

We urgently need to move stop fighting over the pity issues of beef and pork and rather concentrate on the agenda of development.

As cow is ‘sacred’ to Hindus, the flesh of swine is strongly forbidden in Islam.

There is an urgent need to develop a sense of understanding between the two communities who should refrain from forcing their religion on others.

Cow flesh and pig meat have prolonged been the reason for the bloodshed of human beings. Amid the deadly riots, the issue of development has lost somewhere.

In a recently held rally, even Prime Minster Narendra Modi, while commenting on the Dadri lynching incident, said that Hindus and Muslims need to fight with poverty and not with each other.

If we really want to enter the era of growth and prosperity, fights over animal slaughter should be immediately stopped and rather battle the devil of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.

Let’s change the enemy!

13 Oct 2015
Rumani