CATTLE BATTLE

Will the BJP’s bovine obsession dent its electoral fortunes in the cow belt state?

- PRASHANT SRIVASTAVA

They are everywhere—on the streets, blocking traffic, and in the fields, wreaking havoc on men and crops. Stray cattle, or awara pashu, as they are called in local parlance, have become enough of an issue in the cow belt state of Uttar Pradesh to influence—if not decide— the electoral outcome in many seats.

“I am so angry,” says Rajwati, a resident of Gulab Kheda village in the state’s Unnao district, which goes to polls on February 23. “I will not vote for any party because none of them is raising this serious issue. Our men have to be on guard in the fields at night because of the stray cattle. Due to this, my husband is unable to give enough time to his family.”

Another farmer from Amroha, Lal Kumar Singh, bemoans: “Stray cattle roam freely in our area and destroy our wheat, pulse, and mustard crop. Last year, when people from the Adampur, Beejhalpur, Sheetal Daray and Putsal villages locked abandoned cows in the premises of a school after they destroyed their crop, the police booked them for cruelty to animals.”