Two cow-related killings in two different areas of Haryana – in one a student was shot dead after being chased for 25 km and in the other a boy was beaten to death by a mob – have heated up the assembly elections in the state. While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has targeted the BJP, the BJP’s state leadership has been careful to avoid the topic. Haryana Chief Minister Naib Saini has condemned the incidents but addressed the issue through the prism of people’s sentiments towards cows.
Lynching
Last month, Sabir Malik, a migrant labourer from West Bengal, was lynched by a mob after he was picked up near the Badhra bus stand on suspicion of eating beef. Malik and his friend Asruddin were taken to a junk shop near the bus stand, where they were attacked. Asruddin fled, but Malik could not. He was taken on a two-wheeler, and then tortured and eventually killed.
The incident has created an atmosphere of fear in Hansavas Khurd village in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri district, home to mostly migrant workers from Bengal and Assam, many of whom have started migrating.
Five cow protectors have been arrested in this case, but the shocking thing is that two minors have also been detained in this case. A case has been registered under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (BNS).
“Suspecting the victim to have eaten beef, the accused – Abhishek, Mohit, Ravinder, Kamaljit and Sahil – lured him to a shop on the pretext of selling him empty plastic bottles. There, they thrashed him,” PTI quoted a police official as saying.
25 kilometer long chase and murder
In late August, another cow-related killing took place 174 kilometres from Charkhi Dadri. On August 23, a 19-year-old man was shot dead by suspected cow vigilantes in Faridabad, Haryana, who followed him believing he was surveying the area for cattle smuggling.
Police have identified the victim as Aryan Mishra, a Class 12 student. Mishra had left his house in the night in an SUV with five friends. The accused chased the vehicle in which Mishra and his friends were travelling and opened fire, hitting Mishra with two bullets. According to police, the prime suspect Anil Kaushik is associated with an organisation called Live for Nation, which promotes cow protection. The five men were later arrested and placed in judicial custody.
Cow sentiments and Haryana
This is not the first case of cow killings by cow protectors in Haryana. This state is especially famous for cows, where cow is given a lot of respect and products made from it ranging from milk, buttermilk to butter are consumed by the entire family.
Gau Raksha Dals (cow protection groups) play a key role here. They have a presence right up to the tehsil level where they are regularly briefed on people’s food habits and informed about ‘suspicious behaviour’. Acharya Yogendra formed a group of ‘gau rakshaks’ at a temple in Bhadra, Haryana. Ravinder Sheoran, who was appointed president of the group, is one of the eight accused in the Charkhi Dadri mob lynching case.
Mohit alias Monu Manesar – a self-proclaimed cow protector – is a hero of sorts among cow protectors and was arrested by the Nuh police in September last year for alleged inflammatory posts on social media. The Rajasthan police had also arrested him in connection with the infamous Nasir-Junaid murder case, in which the charred bodies of Nasir and Junaid were found in a vehicle on the Rajasthan-Haryana border on February 16 after some cow protectors allegedly abducted them accusing them of cow smuggling.
Cow politics
If cow sentiments are so deep in Haryana, can the state’s politics remain aloof from it, especially at the time of assembly elections? The chief minister’s carefully chosen words make this abundantly clear. When asked about the killing of the migrant labourer, Saini told reporters, “It is not right to say things like mob lynching, because a strict law has been made in the assembly for the protection of cows and no compromise can be made on it.”
The draconian law he is referring to is one brought in by his predecessor, whom he also respects politically. In 2015, Manohar Lal Khattar enacted the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan (HGSG) Act, which banned cow smuggling, slaughter, possession and consumption of beef in the state.
Though the BJP does not want to discuss these two issues, the ongoing debate in the local media is proving to be helpful for the party as it is grappling with the anti-incumbency wave and anger of the Jats. Congress’s Jat face and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is also taking advantage of this.
But if such incidents – especially in the Nuh area where the minority population is high – blur caste boundaries and people start voting on religious lines, the BJP could benefit. Faridabad, too, has 2.5 lakh Jats – the highest in the Lok Sabha constituency – followed by Gujjars and other castes.
It is no wonder that Rahul Gandhi’s strong words like “reign of fear” are rebuffed by Hooda or Kumari Selja – the Congress’ state leadership – who are aware of the nuanced political situation they are dealing with. In 2017, Bhupinder Singh Hooda visited Khandavali after a local boy, Junaid Khan, was stabbed to death by a mob on a Mathura-bound train. But, this time, he has refrained from visiting Charkhi Dadri.