Beefing up hysteria

The centrality of cow slaughter in Indian politics— in sparking communal riots as happened in parts of Uttar Pradesh in the eighties and in social activism as seen in the campaigns of Vinoba Bhave—is well known. While taboos on beef eating remain the touchstone of Hindu dharma, yet legislative bans on cow slaughter have often failed as they also violate the right to livelihood in a plural society. Anxious for electoral victory, Diggy Raja has charged into the Hindu lexicon, vowing to destroy the parivar’s monopoly on the religion of the majority of voters. However, the recent controversy over the beef eating allegations by the Congress is a sad pointer to the depths to which competitive Hindutva can lead India’s hapless voters. At a time when the basic needs of a healthy dignified life are simply not being met, when in a state like Madhya Pradesh, for example, the network of roads have fallen into hazardous disrepair, to find politicians vying with each other to score greater points on mythology, religion and culinary choices is nothing short of farcical. What will be next in the political blame-game? Will political parties now accuse each other on not eating the best quality ‘satvik’ food, or not being able to recite the Gayatri mantra properly or not being able to rattle off the names of the Upanishads? However culturally important these issues may be, they should hardly be the pre-occupations of governance.

Vajpayee would have been well-advised to have maintained a statesman-like silence on this unfortunate episode rather than jump into the fray, as he did, and issue hasty denials. Such desperation on the part of accuser and accused is a caricature of not only religion, but politics, and holds grim portents for the future of modern democratic behaviour in this country. The Congress has the freedom reinvent itself in any way it chooses but to do it by attacking the eating habits of the prime minister is utterly immature.