The Union Environment Ministry's notification banning the sale of cattle for slaughter has set off a chain reaction with both sides of the divide training guns at each other leading to a polarised, divisive and charged atmosphere in the country. The ban will reportedly hit the farming and the livelihood of communities dependent on cattle. Meanwhile, the action of Kerala's Youth Congress--hacking a cow in public-- to protest against the central government order did more harm than good by turning the attention away from the issue at hand.
The barbaric and thoughtless act played into the hands of ban apologists. Many leaders have condemned the action of Kerala Youth Congress, forcing the state leadership to suspend its leader Rijil Makkutty from the party. Equally culpable is BJP leader, K Surendran, who used a wrong cow slaughter photo to further his agenda. While taking issue with beef festivals, held across the state against the ban of cattle slaughter, the leader put up a cow slaughter picture from an old file. In the picture used by K Surendran, slaughtered cows can be seen strewn across in front of a building but does not mention the place or the incident.
In his Facebook post, Surendran urged the government to take action against people behind the beef festival and said the cows being slaughtered publicly stoked up uncalled tension in the areas. It is incumbent on Surendran to explain the logic of using such a picture. A cursory glance reveals that the picture used by Surendran has been used by many in the past and is believed to be a place in Bangladesh.
A bigger plot at work?
At the first glance, the picture used by the BJP leader may look harmless. But in the past, we have seen instances when a provocative picture has led to widespread violence. When questioned on the use of the controversial picture, he chose to remain silent.
Earlier, BJP State President Kummanam Rajasekharan came under the scanner after he posted a video on his Twitter handle, allegedly of CPM workers rejoicing after the murder of RSS man Biju as claimed by him. BJP RajyaSabha member and Bengaluru-based media baron Rajeev Chandrasekhar also drew flak for spreading lies after he retweeted a 'false video' after the murder of RSS worker Choorakad Biju in Kannur in May. One can't help but see a pattern in such acts.
