Journalism of Courage
Cattle traders have come out against Satish Kumar, president of Gau Raksha Dal based in Rajpura, alleging that he had extorted them in the name of cow protection. Ramesh Kumar Narang, 51, a trader from Ludhiana, said that he faced nothing less than “terrorism” at the hands of Satish Kumar and his men.
“In February 2014, I bagged an order to supply high quality milching cows to Mizoram,” he said. “It was a government order passed through tenders and we had all documents. The cows were to be given to poor farmers under a government scheme. Two of my trucks were confiscated by his (Satish Kumar’s) men. He threatened to get my son booked for cow slaughter. It was only after I paid him Rs 2.5 lakh that my cows were released. And that too only 13 of the 20 I had sent. Satish kept seven for himself which were of the highest quality.”
Narang said that another consignment was also stopped at Ludhiana by Satish and Shiv Sainiks. “Even the officers from Mizoram, despite being government employees, were not spared and taken to police station. Of 40 cows, 20 were sent to gaushala. Four months later, the cows returned ill. They were pregnant and giving abundant milk earlier. Some died and others stopped eating. It is terrorism, complete terrorism,” he added.
“Satish and his men got even the veterinarian who certified it booked in an FIR alleging he issues fake certificates. It was only after court noticed that we were transporting pregnant and milching cows, which could not be sent for slaughter, that he was acquitted,” said Narang..
“These cow vigilantes say they don’t like HF cross bred cows, but only indigenous ones. But for four months they consumed milk from my 20 HF cows and maybe even sold it for profit,” he said.
Another trader from Jagraon, requesting anonymity, said, “My trucks going to Saharanpur were stopped by Satish Kumar. They were ordered by a Hindu there. Satish demanded money but it was only after we convinced him that a Hindu family had bought the cows that he let us go.”
According to another trader, he was stopped from transporting cows for UP’s Kamadhenu Livestock Yojana.
“Since 2015, Mizoram has stopped giving us orders. Earlier they had ordered 500-1,000 cows every year and their officials also visited Punjab. Now they don’t,” he said.
Daljit Singh, president Progressive Dairy Farmers Association Punjab said, “We won’t stop agitation till entire mafia is not exposed. It is us who do real gau sewa,” he said.
