'Love jihad' in UP, cow slaughter in Haryana: BJP softens its Hindutva line

Chandigarh: It was ’love jihad’ in Uttar Pradesh; it is cow protection in Haryana. The BJP has not quite abandoned the Hindutva plank after its debacle in the Uttar Pradesh bypolls, it has gone softer on it though. [caption id=“attachment_1743495” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The BJP manifesto proposes harsher punishment for cow slaughter. AFP[/caption] The subtle ‘Hindutva’ line adopted by the party in Haryana is visible in the election manifesto, despite its efforts in public to present a secular face to the electorate. In the manifesto for Haryana released by party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Haryana state unit president Ram Bilas Sharma, the BJP has promised to introduce penal provisions to ensure that punishment for cow slaughter is on a par with the punishment for murder. The Haryana BJP president said the law would be amended to raise the punishment for cow slaughter from the present five years imprisonment to penalties equal to the crime of murder. At present the maximum punishment for cow slaughter in Haryana is five years jail with fine up to Rs 5000. But if the punishment becomes similar to murder, the minimum punishment will be life term. Interestingly, the BJP manifesto document does not exactly spell out details of cow protection, although it promised to set up an international level research centre for conservation of cows and making efforts to improve the local breed of cows. The manifesto, however, did promise government grants to Gaushalas in the state and developing grazing grounds for animals, besides modernizing the veterinary hospitals and making provisions for more veterinary doctors and staff in these hospitals. Such pronouncements pandering to Hindutva line may appeal to the Hindus in the state, the party feels. Haryana is already a leading milk production state of the country, but the BJP is planning to double the milk production in the state. The BJP did promise to strictly implement the cow slaughter ban in the state. Later, when asked to explain how the BJP government would go ahead with this plan, Ram Bilas Sharma explained the measures that would be taken to check cow slaughter. The BJP leaders favoured a harsher punishment for the offenders who indulge in cow slaughter. Haryana BJP manifesto committee Chairman Ganeshi Lal, a former RSS pracharak was reluctant to make any comment on the issue. With the population of Muslims being far low in Haryana the Hindu-Muslim divide has never been clearly visible. But it is also a fact that in the Muslim dominated district of Mewat, the number of cases of cow slaughter has been reported to be increasing, causing social tension. With cow slaughter being an extremely sensitive and emotional issue in Haryana, there have been a number of occasions in the Mewat, Gurbagon, Bhiwani belt when the Hindus objected to cows being carried in trucks to neighbouring states for slaughter. There have also been incidents of irate mobs burning trucks and freeing cattle. In Dulina, Jhajjar around a decade ago some Dalits suspected of skinning the cows were killed mercilessly by the agitated people. Aware of the regard for values and tradition by the rural people and their sensitivity towards cows especially, the BJP may play the Hindutva card discreetly to win the support of a section of voters. Haryana BJP spokesman, Veer Kumar Yadav says the party was serious about checking cow slaughter. “When we are in power we can amend the law in the Haryana assembly to make cow slaughter a punishable crime as grave as murder,” he said. Reacting to the BJP’s move on cow slaughter, Ran Singh Mann, spokesman of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, told Firstpost this: “The BJP has fake gai bhakts (cow devotees) in its ranks. They should know that we have more cows at home than BJP leaders. By making such announcements, the BJP is attempting to exploit religious sentiments, but the Haryanvis understand their game plan.” Incidentally, Haryana had earlier banned cow slaughter under the Punjab Prohibition of Cow-slaughter Act, 1956. Violators of this law invite rigorous punishment which is imprisonment of up to five years. The Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana has also tried to be sensitive to the cow issue. The Hooda government established the Haryana Gau Seva Ayog in 2010 for the protection and upkeep of cows. Meanwhile, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) too in its manifesto has promised to set up a commission to curb cow slaughter. Anil Vij, Haryana BJP Legislature Party chief sees nothing wrong in caring for the cows. “The Congressmen and others can say whatever they want, but the BJP is not going out of the way for cow protection. It is natural for everyone to protect cows revered in our country. The matter should not be politicized,” he told Firstpost.