The
recent comments
by members of the Sangh Parivar on the complete ban on the consumption of beef in
Goa have ignited a controversy. The comments, casteist as they are, have
shifted the attention of the Goan people away from pressing issues like the
future of casinos, the Mopa airport, the crises in the mining sector,
environmental pollution, and everyday governance. That such comments divert our
attention elsewhere is unfortunate; but every time such comments are made we
should remind ourselves what exactly lies at the heart of such hate politics.
The
online Ambedkarite portal, Round Table India, has been publishing articles
critically analyzing the economics and politics of ‘beef ban’, especially since
the ban enforced by Maharashtra from 2015. It is with the help of these and
some other news reports that I wish to make the case that, through ‘beef bans’
and cow politics, the poor and minoritized population is being pushed further
into the depths of poverty and caste, eventually making them live in conditions
akin to slavery.
Following
the ban in Maharashtra by the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, Arvind Kumar argued
that the move had all the makings of a “social conspiracy” against the
dalit-bahujans in India, especially in Maharashtra. “I see the beginnings,” he
says, “of a reversal of ‘social change’”. Kumar argues that if non-productive
cattle – whether used for dairy products or as draught animals – are not
slaughtered then they will have to be disposed by someone after they die. Who
will do this dirty work? He says that it is those who come from the
‘untouchable’ castes who will either be forced or lured into occupations such
as disposing and skinning dead cattle and further “get trapped in the evil
practice of untouchability”.
Kumar
seems to have rightly perceived the diabolic game plan behind the ban on cow
slaughter in Maharastra as the NGO that worked to make the ban a reality has
similar plans. In an interview to Scroll.in, Rajendra Joshi,
a trustee of the Viniyog Parivar Trust, said, “Cattle will now die their natural deaths scattered
across the state, and it will help revive the traditional vocations of chamars and mochis [tanners and cobblers] across the state”. In making such a
statement, Joshi admits that people are moving away from occupations such as
tanning and hence such occupations need to be “revive[d]”. Obviously, people
would not volunteer to perform such demeaning traditional occupations, hence
the coercion of the state is seen as so necessary.
This
emphasis on bringing back the ‘traditional’ precisely confirms what Kumar had
suspected all along: undo social mobility and reorder labor relations. The idea
ultimately is to return to a casteist way of life and production relations that
perpetuates practices of untouchability. Talking in terms of untouchability
does not mean that the issue is solely about religion, rituals, or belief; it
is also fundamentally an economic issue as those who provide labor in a caste
society – including those who work in agriculture and clear/skin dead cattle –
come from the lower strata of society.
Studies
have shown
that if non-productive cattle are not culled – that is livestock rearing is not
done in a scientific and economically rational manner – then the population of
cattle begins to shrink. In other words, slaughter is essential if the
agricultural and dairy production is to be maintained at an economically viable
level. Farmers, being unable to dispose of such cattle, have to bear the burden
of sustaining non-productive animals. Selling non-productive cattle (whether
cows or bulls) for slaughter (with the resultant production of food, leather,
and other important goods) sustains an agrarian economy dependent on bovine
animals. The butcher is an integral part of this economy. In fact we can observe
that a ban on cow slaughter economically burdens farmers, dairy farmers, butchers,
and meat traders. However, the only ones who are laughing all the way to the
bank are the beef exporters – many of them upper caste Hindus – who seem to be increasing the quantum of exports
despite this hate politics.
Seen
from the perspective of the ill-effects that a ‘beef ban’ and anti-cow
slaughter laws have on the society and the economy, it is imperative that
secular forces and those keen to maintain Goan traditions call for nothing less
than a complete revocation of these ‘cow protection’ laws, including the one
that the MGP government brought into force in Goa in the 1970s. It is also a litmus test to the
votaries of secularism and Goemkarponn if they will push for the revocation or
change of laws antithetical to the lives and livelihoods of Goans.
In
Goa too, one can observe that it has become increasingly difficult for people
to maintain cattle. It is simply not economically viable, and over a period of
time so many people have stopped rearing cattle. Add to this, one sees a large
number of cows scavenging from dustbins and other areas. The oppressive ‘cow
protection’ laws – circumscribed by a upper caste Hindu morality – has made it
difficult for people to maintain cows and the bovine population to sustain
itself.
Thus,
the issue is not simply about people being unable to
eat beef (that is,
without being lynched or killed for it). While it is true that ‘beef bans’ pose
a threat to a loosely defined ethos of ‘secularism’, the issue is much deeper
in which the laboring poor are trapped within the oppressive
structures of caste, poverty, and tradition. It is a form of slavery that is perpetuated by the
law and a casteist morality which is undoing the social mobility achieved through
the struggles of various groups. While forcing labor relations based on caste
hierarchies, such ‘beef bans’ also deny ‘minorities’ like Christians and
Muslims (of all castes and classes) the choice of food and cultural practices ostensibly
because it offends upper caste Hindu sensibilities.
(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 26 April, 2017)
