IIT-Madras scholar assaulted: Centre's cattle slaughter order is seen as diktat from Delhi in Tamil Nadu

Indian Institute of Technology or Indian Institute of Turmoil? The IIT-Madras has, much to the shock of many students on campus, turned into the theatre of protests over the cattle slaughter notification issued by the Centre last week. The spark was the beef dinner that was organised on Sunday, where around 80 students participated. That has become the genesis of the flashpoint between those who support the right to eat beef and those who find the idea of eating beef repulsive.

A Ph.D scholar, R Sooraj has suffered serious damage to his eye, which will need surgery while another student Manish Singh’s right arm was broken. Students who claim to be eyewitnesses to the altercation, give different versions of who assaulted who — a pointer to the polarised atmosphere on campus. Sooraj, who is from Kerala, has suffered a fracture below the eye, leading to swelling and it is not yet certain if his vision will be affected. Manish too is admitted to hospital.

With many willing to give an arm and a leg in this fight for and against beef, an eye for an eye approach threatens to make many students “blind”. That doesn’t augur well for this prestigious institution.

But that is not how many in Tamil Nadu are interpreting the standoff. In this Periyar land, they see in the cattle rules notification an attempt by ‘brahminical’ BJP to dictate what’s on your plate and want to convey through the protest that they are not blind to such designs.

In fact, it is not about beef alone. Tamil Nadu, in any case, is not much of a beef-consuming state. As per the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) figures, only 5.8 percent of Tamil Nadu’s population consumes beef when compared with say Kerala (25.2 percent), West Bengal (18.6) and Meghalaya (80.7).

“It is a protest against what is seen as a diktat from Delhi. It is not just about beef eaters, it is about the right to eat non-vegetarian fare. It is a protest against the manner in which Delhi pushed it through without a dialogue with the states,’’ says Sumanth C Raman, political analyst.

The opposition to the notification in the two states is also being given a regional flavour with the Left, DMK and Congress-led protests being called a counter-assault. One of the tweets said : ``When #ModisWarOnSouth rolled up into our kitchens, two southies stood up and punched back. Remember the names : #PinarayiVijayan & #MKStalin.’'

The political protest is also an expression of annoyance with the manner in which the E Palaniswamy government has kept mum over the issue. “It is as if the Tamil Nadu government is apolitical now. It never says anything about an issue if it will annoy the BJP and the prime minister. The stoic silence of the government only emboldens the BJP,’’ says R Mani, political analyst.

The EPS government’s refusal to criticise the unilateral manner in which the rules were changed, has only confirmed what DMK leader MK Stalin has been saying all along that the AIADMK regime is at New Delhi’s mercy. But the big change since Jayalalithaa’s demise, as the jallikattu protest at the Marina in January proved, is that people are less scared to speak out.

“Post-Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu has become a rogue state and people have started protesting on just about everything. The lack of a firm leader at the top is the root cause,’’ says G Arun, activist with People for Cattle in India, who backs the new rules on cattle slaughter.

But then to look at the ferment within IIT-Madras only through the prism of Tamil Nadu would be wrong. The institute is a microcosm of India, with students from different parts of India, on campus. Chaitanya Singh (name changed on request), a third-year student from Uttar Pradesh says the act of eating beef was “a provocative move” and feels there would have been big trouble if the same had happened on a campus in UP.

“You cannot make a joke of eating an animal that is revered by others,’’ says Chaitanya. “If you want to do so, do it outside the IIT. I never speak about pork here because it will hurt sentiments of some of my batchmates. This is a deliberate attempt to politicise and polarise the campus.''

“How is it provocative,’’ counters Azhar Moideen, a final-year postgraduate student from Thrissur in Kerala. “Is eating beef illegal? Our discussion on Sunday night was not confined to whether we can or cannot eat beef. We are concerned about the impact it will have on the rural economy, on the leather industry, on labour.''

It is obvious that even from a sociological point of view, a churning and clash of ideologies is taking place within IIT Madras.

“The north Indian students there largely identify themselves with Modi. Which is why when students in the humanities stream organise beef fests, it is seen as rocking the boat. But the attempt really is to make IIT-Madras a socially democratic institution and embrace an alternate way of thinking,’’ says A Narayanan, director of Change India, a centre for advocacy and research.

It is clear that the BJP government messed up in not communicating properly on the notification. This led to the narrative becoming more about an imaginary beef ban instead of an attempt to ensure cattle are not treated cruelly when they are taken for slaughter, as is the case now. In fact, the Kerala High Court has on Wednesday, expressed surprise over the order of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court which stayed the new rules on Tuesday. The Kerala High Court noted that the Centre has not banned cattle slaughter at all and asked for the petition challenging it to be withdrawn.

But the suspicion about the real intent remains. Because at a political level, it is also quite possible that this was a trial balloon floated to see how states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala react and use the polarised environment to push the cow on to the EVM.

Rajasthan High Court has said that the cow should be declared the national animal. This suggestion is bound to make the tiger, and several people, see red.