- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
In prime minister Narendra Modi’s India, the cow is often seen as a ‘political animal’ as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Hindu right-wing affiliates are accused of mobilising the majoritarian sentiments by protecting and serving it. BJP governments and Hindu elements have vowed to take special care of the cow and various sections have often been targeted on charges of smuggling the animal or even for skinning dead cows. Cow slaughter has also been made illegal in several states.
However, things have become ironic in Modi’s own state Gujarat recently as a number of charitable trusts that run cattle shelters in the poll-bound state have set free several thousands of cows to protest the alleged lack of government aid that was promised, BBC reported.
The protesters have even threatened to boycott the upcoming election in the BJP-ruled state if the government did not give funds. Videos of the animals walking through government buildings have become viral.
Gujarat is among those Indian states that have been hit by the outbreak of the lumpy skin disease, leading to deaths of cattle.
The state, where cow slaughter is illegal as well, reported more than 5,800 deaths caused by the disease while almost 170,000 have been estimated to be hit by it.
in 2017, Gujarat notified that those slaughtering cows could be punished with a life term in jail and it has seen the animal’s population exploding with several of them roaming around, causing traffic congestion, and reaching shelter houses.
The state government in its budget this year allocated Rs 5 billion ($61million) for maintaining shelters for cows and other old animals but the managers of these shelters have alleged that they did not receive the money as promised and felt “cheated” by the authorities, the BBC report added.
They also said that despite giving representations to the government a number of times, no solutions have been offered.
According to a report by The Indian Express, almost 1,750 cowsheds run by charitable trusts, which house over 450,000 cattle, have joined the protest.
“BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand are providing support. Even Congress-ruled Rajasthan is offering 50 rupees for one cow. So why has Gujarat failed to support cows?” Vipul Mali, general secretary of the Gujarat Gau Seva Sangh — which runs cow shelters for sick cattle — told the daily.
While the protests were snowballing with people even reaching government offices with cow urine and dung, the animal husbandry minister of Gujarat said that there has been a delay in releasing the aid owing to “administrative tangles” and assured that a “positive solution” would be found very soon.
Meanwhile, the cows continued to crowd roads, local courts, and government buildings in several parts of Gujarat and the police said that they detained 70 protesters in districts such as Banaskantha, Kutch, and Patan.
The protesters have said that they would go for a wider agitation if no solution is found by the end of September.
