Sir: Last year, thirty four Muslims were lynched by mobs in India on suspicion of slaughtering cows. Several more have been killed during the current year. One Muslim who was recently lynched by Hindu vigilantes in Rajasthan has received some attention in the media. The vigilantes were affiliated with Hindu extremist outfits Rashtraya Swayem Sevak Sang (militant wing of political Bharatya Janata Party). Cow slaughter was a non-issue in ancient India. Mughal emperors like Babar, Akbar, Jahangir and Aurangzeb imposed selective bans on cow slaughter during their reigns in deference to the Jain or Brahmanicalfeelings for veneration of the cow. British-period Slaughter of Kine Act is still in force in India and Pakistan to save young cows. Modern Hindus’ forefathers were themselves beef-eaters. The Hindu religious texts, particularly the Vedas, are replete with verses which tell how the Brahmins indulged in cow slaughter and beef eating. The Hindu religious scripture, Rigveda presents textual evidence of beef-eating by ancient Hindus. Quoting from Rigveda, historian HH Wilson wrote, “The sacrifice of the horse or of the cow, the Asvamedha or Gomedha, appears to have been common in the earliest periods of the Hindu ritual.” The early Aryans, who were foreign invaders when they first arrived in the Subcontinent, indulged in animal sacrifice. In the Agnadheya, which was a preparatory rite preceding all public sacrifices, a cow was required to be slaughtered. Brahmanical religious texts such as Grhyasutras and Dharmasutras state that the killing of animals and eating of beef was very much in practice. The ceremony of guest reception consisted not only of a meal of a mixture of curds and honey but also of the flesh of a cow or bull. Followers of the Jain religion and a sect of Buddhists are known to propagate the teachings of non-violence and strictly avoid eating meat. But, the fact is that even their founders could not exempt themselves from devouring meat. Gautama Buddha, founder of Buddhist religion, is known to have eaten beef and pork. Vardhmana Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, is said to have consumed the meat of a rooster. In the state of Kerala, 72 communities among Hindus currently prefer beef, because it is far cheaper than mutton. The lower-caste Hindus such as Dalits and scheduled castes also consume beef and indulge in cow slaughter. The upper-caste Hindus shunned their age-old beef-eating practice to accentuate differentiation with carnivorous communities of Buddhists, Christians and Muslims in the country. With the passage of time, the cow has become an instrument of politics. The issue of cow slaughter provoked a series of serious communal Hindu-Muslim riots in the 1880s and 1890s. In recent past, the cow slaughter issue engendered riots in Bhiwandi (Maharashtra). In 1893, in Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh), anti-Muslim riots broke out on the issue of cow slaughter. More than 100 people were killed in different parts of the country. Narendra Modi, then chief Minister of Gujarat state, fanned the issue to pander to sentiments of galleries. Hindus deliberately exploit this issue to kill Muslims. It is easy to un-bottle genie of extremism but difficult to re-cap it. AB Vajpayee’s cabinet(May 7, 2005), decided in violation of article 15 of Indian constitution (secularism), `to formulate a more stringent central law to ban cow slaughter’. But, cow slaughter being a state subject, the central government had to move agricultural ministry’s animal-husbandry department to call upon the states to adopt anti-cow-slaughter resolutions authorizing the centre to ban cow slaughter. Now, almost all States, except Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh Meghalaya Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, have laws banning or restricting cow-slaughter. When Hindu high priest, Shankaracharya of Kanchi, threatened a fast unto death over “‘neglect’ of the country’s cow population’, Vajpayee appeased him by constituting the National Cow Slaughter Commission. This pseudo-commission recommended a central ban on cow slaughter. The anti-cow-slaughter bill is a sequel to anti-conversion bills, enacted by Tamil Nadu and Gujarat legislatures. In a volte face, India’s Supreme Court has stipulated guidelines (fast courts, maximum punishment, etc.) to prevent lynching. Regardless, Modi’s government’s callous attitude towards the beef-eating communities bears a marked contrast to the Muslim rulers’ tolerant attitude today and in the past. AJ MALIK Rawalpindi Published in Daily Times, July 24th 2018.