After the ban on liquor outlets along the Highway came another big powerful blow, namely, the idea of a ban on beef; one leader said ‘the traditions of Goa have to be changed and they have to implement their national agenda’.
O Gandhiji! How we remember you what you said in 1947: “In India no law can be made to ban cow-slaughter …How can my religion also be the religion of the rest of the Indians? It will mean coercion against those Indians who are not Hindus.” Yes, imposing one’s dietary habits on others in a democratic society appears to be an atmosphere of dictatorship.
Before Galileo Galilei and Nicholas Copernicus we believed, Earth as the center of solar system. But now we know that the Sun is the center of the solar system and all planets move around the sun and not the earth.
Modern people compared to the bygone days, do not believe in demons and devilish forces. They consider them as unfounded fears of the past.
Similarly, people praise, a new form of god whom they think has more power and will bring them comfort to their sufferings that arise from modern challenges.
We thus see, many beliefs get created and many get dissolved with the passage of time according to peoples’ changing preferences in them. But some activists are trying to reconvert people from the present faith they go after, to the old traditional faith they used to follow in the past. This looks like harassing people with true lies to wield power over the public.
If we don’t have the right to eat what we want and practice what we believe in a secular state then it means that wisest politicians, brightest leaders, cruelest of mankind are destroying age-old “unity in diversity” with their hidden agenda; and with persuading violence in the name of religion, culture and food, they are escorting democracy on the road to mob-o-cracy.
India, the land from where many religions of the world have originated, the cow is considered sacred and of greater worth than human life. Many say this because an old Muslim man was lynched to death by a mob because he ate beef. If, cows are held in high esteem and if protecting cattle is more important than protecting people; many are wonder-struck by disappointment at the neglect of stray cattle, ambling along the road, chewing plastic bags which have become their main diet, as there is nothing else for them to eat in the concrete jungle of modern days. I believe that it is not just important to preach religion but also to practice safety of the cow. We should awaken our conscience and first react as humans. Hypocritical speeches and actions are easily seen through.
India is soon becoming a “Land of Bans”. Ban on food – No more cooking beef in the kitchen. Ban on dress — No more wearing bikinis on Goan beaches. Ban on drinks — No more drinking ‘feni’ on highways.
Such bans affect tourism and it becomes like killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Alas! Controlling citizens with bans is pestering the people.
