1) It’s because that’s who we are

India is a country of 80 per cent Hindus and for most of them, the killing and consuming of cows is a sin on religious and traditional grounds. We have to respect that. It has been a tradition that has been upheld for thousands of years and respected by even non-Hindu kings as diverse as Babar, Hyder Ali and Ranjit Singh.

You can’t fight your identity. While you may say all that is in the past, that is not actually so. Even in 2017 most Hindus still do not believe in eating beef and this majority sentiment has to be respected. When India goes out of its way to placate the minorities, what is the logic of antagonising the majority?

2.) it’s kinder to the environment

The way India handles the cow is an environmental marvel. The farmer uses cows to cultivate the fields. The milk is used as part of the dairy industry. Even the waste, or “gobar”, has its uses. It is a disinfectant plastered on village houses and in its dry form is used as cooking or in gobar gas plants and even as manure.

In a court case, the Gujarat government compared gobar to a Kohinoor diamond and the Supreme Court appreciated that.

In many areas in the world, cows are cultivated in large numbers for just beef and that has catastrophic environmental impacts on total land used for grazing, greenhouse emissions and water usage and effects on polluting aquatic ecosystems.

We don’t want to bring that type of culture into India.

3.) We have to follow the Constitution

 
Article 48 of the Directive Principles of State Policy declares that the state shall take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.

That was the guiding principle for laws to be framed after Independence and in 1950 legislation was brought in West Bengal and Assam and in 1954 in Gujarat. 1955 was a big year and legislation was introduced in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. After that we saw the same in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka.

Some 24 of the current states have seen some sort of legislation related to beef and cow slaughter. It’s just a question of following the law of the land.

4.) Even the Supreme Court has been pushing it

A 1958 Supreme Court ruling stated that the people of India couldn’t be deprived of food in the form of beef. That ruling put a halt on a complete ban. However, that was totally overturned by the apex court in 2005 in a decisive 6-1 verdict.

That verdict did not even allow the slaughter of old and useless cattle as the following part of the judgment shows…

This is the land of Mahatma Gandhi, Vinobha, Mahaveer, Buddha, Nanak and others. It will be an act of reprehensible ingratitude to condemn cattle in old age as useless and send them to a slaughterhouse. We have to remember. The weak and meek need more protection and compassion.

In fact at that time the SC was hearing a plea relating to cow slaughter legislation in Gujarat, but it urged all other states in India to frame similar cow slaughter legislation.

5.)A legacy of our cultural values

Most of the Hindu kings supported a permanent ban on cow slaughter and they were supported by Hindu organisations. During the freedom struggle, the likes of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai were strong proponents of a total ban.

It’s time to complete this unfinished business.