Gujarat: Muslim Councillor to the Rescue as Cow Writhes in Pain for 72 Hours

New Delhi, 10 Mar 2021 [Fik/News Sources]: The sorry plight of a seriously injured cow that lay helplessly on a bustling road here for as many as 72 hours writhing in pain after being knocked down by a devil-may-care driver of a four-wheeler has exposed the hypocrisy of Hindus in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Gujarat.

Till the time the bleeding bovine was finally carried away by a state-owned animal ambulance at 11 am on Tuesday, none of the so-called animal lovers, cow vigilantes who claim to protect the sacred animals, volunteers of government-aided animal welfare bodies, municipal staffers or employees of the state government’s cow breeding department came to the rescue of the dumb denizen during the three days.

It was left to the kind-hearted Muslim councillor of the locality, Gomtipur, Congressman Iqbal Shaikh, to make frantic calls for help day after even as the mammal with two hind legs immobilised in the hit-and-run kept gasping for breath.

According to Shaikh, the dirt-poor residents in the neighbourhood regularly offered water and food, and even covered the cow with a bed-sheet to keep flies away but he had a harrowing time tinkling various help centres who took pride in loving the cow whom they called and considered ‘Maata (mother).

At least three animal-care NGOs either did not pick up Shaikh’s phone or passed the buck to another office. While one well-known organisation providing free medical care to unowned domestic animals told the lawmaker to bring the bovine to their clinic as they did not have a suitable vehicle to transport the injured cow, the municipality’s Cattle Nuisance Control Department (CNCD), in a rude reply, said they picked up only dead animals, and rang off.

In a last-ditch effort, Shaikh buzzed the state government-run Karuna animal ambulance helpline number 1962 but was told to find out the owner of the mammal for medical treatment or, if it is a stray cow, they would pick up the ruminant only after a couple of days as their special van was currently not available.

Fumed Shaikh: “Cows have turned cash cows for BJP leaders. The NGOs also swallow government funds but care two hoots for animals. The hypocrisy of cow vigilantes and animals lovers stands exposed as they did not bother to help the suffering animal”.

With 1.5 million stray cattle, Gujarat, where cow slaughter is punishable with life sentence, is caught between cow mania and cow menace, but in Ahmedabad, apart from installing Radio Frequency Identification Data tags on cows, the CNCD has hired 20 volunteers to catch cattle roaming on the streets and offers them Rs 500 for each wandering animal brought to the civic body’s pen.

Indeed, cow mania has gripped Hindu-majority India that boasts 30 per cent of the world’s cattle population. Day after day since Narendra Modi was crowned the Prime Minister in 2014, the Central government or a state administration announces a cow welfare scheme, or a Hindu leader throws tantrums over protection for bovines, or a gaushala (cow shed) for unfit cattle springs up and is quickly inaugurated by a VVIP.

The Modi government is seriously contemplating to set up a cow sanctuary in each state and even declaring cow as the national animal, never mind the recent rise in the number of incidents of the cows with monstrous horns knocking down pedestrians or starving to death in gaushalas.

“India under Modi seems to be gradually turning into a cow republic”, says Gujarat high court advocate Iqbal Masud Khan, adding that the so-called cow vigilantes’ overzealousness has already led to deaths of countless cattle owners.

Jails in Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Bhuj already have cow shelters and soon other prisons and, if BJP has its way, even colleges and universities will have such shelters on their premises.

The obsession with cows rose to mind-boggling proportions in Gujarat, especially during 2011-14 when Modi, as chief minister, handed cash rewards to countless eager-beaver volunteers for raiding ‘illegal’ cattle transporters, and green-signaled huge grants for cow welfare bodies.

The cow has always been an effective tool for the Hindu right-wing led by the BJP not only to divide people communally but also to divert their attention from real issues like unemployment, farmer’s suicides, demonetisation, etc.

“Cow politics always brings Hindu votes to the BJP. Dalits and Muslims have been targeted by the so-called ‘Gau Rakshaks (cow protectors) on mere suspicion of storing beef and transporting cows. An atmosphere of fear, threat and intimidation prevails in the country in the guise of cow politics,” Khan sums up even as taking a selfie with a cow is now all the rage among young Hindus, making India perhaps a laughing stock before the world.