Several years ago, a prominent personality of India, someone given to believing he is important, categorised all of us non-weird Indians as ‘Cattle Class’. Predictably, there was only a mild whimper of protest.
Mostly, the rich and famous were silently gloating as they admired that important weirdo’s brave comment. What they all felt and believed in but could not dare articulate had been put forth by someone else, albeit with a strong anglicised accent.
From ‘Cattle Class’ of yesteryear, we have not come far today with the Union government claiming it now wants to offer the facility of Aadhaar registration to cows. Yes, real cows. The types of animal that some men milch while others speak of in terms of tenderloins and ‘rare or medium’!
Imagine standing behind in a queue with a motherly cow and her calf ahead of you, all three waiting to be biometricked. Would be quite an experience, indeed. This may sound ridiculous but in present day India, slogans such as ‘Caste, Creed and Cattle’ do sound pretty reasonable.
With blatant laws being passed and implemented left, right and center it is but a matter of time when a possible Presidential decree may direct us all to get down from our bicycles or autorickshaws each time we see a cow and pay obeisance to the animal.
The Hindutva angle, igniting the minds of the well heeled Indian of today, has become an umbrella weapon for any and every kind of disruptive activity. Not that disruptionists are negative in any manner.
However, every constructive disruptionist has to have a positive aspect to all that may get demolished. Leaving a pile of debris resembles a war theatre, not necessarily any activity of construction and positivity.
Here and now in India, we have on our hands a situation where we are compelled to eat, drink and live the way some other folks decide. With all that, the prospect of cows getting Aadhaar cards does not seem far-fetched.
What we can only beseech is that why leave out the other unfortunate domesticated animals as the bullocks and dogs. And those which so dearly coexist with humans like the mosquitoes, mice and the bulls too!
