Civilised people that we claim to be our deeds and actions need to conform to that standard to uphold peace and tranquility that we so earnestly long to cherish. Of late it appears that most of the strength and resources are being utilised to defend and sustain what some groups deem right no matter what disturbance and disharmony that can create between communities.
The most debatable topic of the time is pertaining not to the dignity of the human beings but of the animals or more specifically centered on the holy or godly cow. Laws have been abounding on the prevention of cow slaughter as well as transportation of cattle and even possession and storage of beef. What surprises many is the importance and immunity granted to the ‘gau rakshak dals’ by some state governments.
Even more perplexing is the fact that whereas at the central level the Congress and some other parties are targeting the BJP for shielding the cow vigilante groups, the Congress government in Karnataka has laws crafted to give protection to ‘gau rakshaks’ and is staunchly defending its stand in the Supreme Court in a Public Interest Litigation filed challenging the constitutional validity of the enacted law. The argument raised is that the state has given protection only to those cow vigilantes acting in good faith and does not include those creating bitterness between groups. The obvious question is – how can we know who is acting in good faith and who is the troublemaker!
The tragedy unfurled in different parts of the country where these ‘gau rakshaks’ are taking laws in their hands and have unleashed a reign of terror by attacking unassuming people has shaken peoples’ faith in the governance. There is no point Narendra Modi addressing rallies and even condemning such groups saying that they pretend to be ‘gau rakshaks’ by the day but are hooligans under the cover of darkness.
No one can deny that all these hyper-sensitivities have arisen out of religious bigotry and that needs to be contained or better still uprooted. There can be no alternative but to dismantle all such ‘gau rakshak dals’ and let the task of maintaining the law and order situation be rested on the police and not on such religious bigoted unaccountable groups.
