Is Gujarat On The Way To Fascism?

People are forced to change their food habits out of fear of life imprisonment for killing or eating a cow.

- Abdul Hafiz Lakhani

This Bill, cleared by the Gujarat Assembly, must be condemned by all secular individuals. A life sentence for killing a cow reflects the priorities of the BJP. A cow is worth far more than a human life in Gujarat. Very poor Muslims, Dalits and backward class do eat cow meat. Essentially this meat is cheap, yet rich in nutrition. What are these very poor to do? Gujarat growth is one of joblessness. This lowest strata comprising about 30 per cent of the population, has few choices.

Survival demands food, and old cows are regularly abandoned by farmers. We will now see a witch hunt of these miserable people, finally ending as life convicts. All along the upper caste and rich Jains will applaud the protection of the cow, while treating these abandoned cows with total disdain.

— J.S.Bandukwala, a Vadoara based social activist

A report in The Indian Express said that while Gujarat CM Rupani said that he was “not against any food”, he wanted to make Gujarat “shakahari (vegetarian)“. “We do not want Jersey cows, but Gir and Kankreji cows instead,” the report quoted him as saying.

Rupani then went on to describe Gujarat as a “unique state”, which followed the principles of Mahatma Gandhi — “non-violence and truth”. “This is Gandhi’s Gujarat, Sardar’s (Vallabhbhai Patel) Gujarat and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi’s Gujarat,” the report further quoted him as saying.

A senior Congress MLA in Gujarat, Gyasuddin Shaikh, has demanded that the cow should be declared the “national animal” and has requested all slaughterhouse owners and operators in Ahmedabad and Gujarat to ensure that the cow or her progeny is not slaughtered anywhere in the state.