The ‘New India’ slogan seems to have brought in fresh enthusiasm and vitality in the minds of domestic animals of India. The ban on butchering and sale of goat meat along with the declaration of war against cow slaughter will certainly create some kind of history in this nation.
Notwithstanding the jubilation noticed among domesticated animals, those in the wild have been having spine chilling moments of fear instilled in their minds. Known to be vital for environmental balance, those in the wilds have clear visions of persecution taking place in the near future.
The report of a tiger starving to death in Uttarakhand’s Corbett National Park is but only a day old. Rampant poaching of the Gir lions and elephants in states like Orissa has created the kind of climate that indicates an imminent decimation of wild animals in this country.
The Peacock, declared the National Bird, has all but vanished from the Indian countryside. Considered a delicious meat and remaining unprotected, this bird has been chased and killed mercilessly nearly to the point of extinction.
Similarly, the Tiger, nominated the National Animal in the early 1970s, has had the privilege of being somewhat protected by virtue of millions being spent on Project Tiger. Lately, in the last few years, not only the budgetary provisions for this project has come down, but also the population of the king of the food chain has fallen sharply. Poachers, with the direct and active collaboration of Forest Department officials, have roamed free in the tiger habitats for too long.
First, the Gujarat state government recently announced that its Legislature had passed an amendment to an existing law to punish those who slaughter cows with life imprisonment. In a bid not to be outdone, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has declared that cow butchers will be hanged till death.
The aggressive animal protectionism that has become the fad of the day should obviously be welcome. However, many questions irk the thinking man’s mind. One such simple question would be that what does a poor Hindoo farmer do when his domestic cows are no more milching.
Or, what does he do when he can’t afford to hold on to his aged pair of bullocks any longer. It may be mentioned that these animals are mostly sold by Hindoos to butchers, many of whom are Moslem.
To go slightly out of context, the ongoing crisis in the Mid-East, especially in reference to the Islamic State organisation shows what barbarity can be perpetrated by fundamental Moslems against their own Moslem brethren. The visuals of heads being chopped and women being mercilessly beaten and killed showcases the ill effects of fundamental thinking.
Let none assume that this kind of barbaric behaviour can only be attributed to fundamentalists of a certain religion. Fundamentals are against logic and the very core beliefs of a civilised society.
At the risk of being labelled ‘pseudo-liberal sickular Left leaning English-speaking elite’, we may safely assume that the pleasures many of us are deriving from the activitism of Indian fundamentalists today could prove deadly for us tomorrow. Keeping this background in mind, there is no relevance in maintaining the National Animal status for the Tiger.
Let the Cow be declared the National Animal with immediate effect. Similarly, the scorn being heaped on Mahatma Gandhi by the powerful of today shows the path for the future. In this context, we should not be surprised if the Bull is soon declared the Father of the Nation.
