Journalism of Courage
“Bakri in Arabic means ‘Gai’ in Hindi and cow in English. Nabi-e-Kareem (the Prophet) had said that cow’s milk is for your good, ghee is medicine, but cow meat is disease,” said RSS leader Indresh Kumar, in his message to the “Muslim brethren” on the day of Bakra Eid, urging them to give up eating cow meat.
The RSS leader’s message, which he conveyed through media at the Eid celebrations at BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain’s residence, came a few days after the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), a minority body backed by the RSS, announced that it will felicitate Muslims who own or rear cows and asked them to take a pledge against cow slaughter.
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According to him, if Muslims continue to eat cow meat, it will be like those diabetic patients who continue to eat Rasgullas (sweet). “Do not be radical Muslims; be good human beings,” he advised.
The RSS leader also distributed CDs and a booklet, Gai aur Islam (Cow and Islam), a compilation of articles by several Muslim clerics, highlighting the importance of cow in their religion.
According to the booklet, almost all the Muslim rulers had been “sensitive” to cows and its protection mainly because cow and its progeny were the foundation of agriculture and financial system. It is also because the Hindus in Bharat had treated cow as their mother. In the Vedas, cow is called the mother of the earth and the Muslim rulers understood it very well that they could not just rule the country with swords; they had to respect the tradition and culture in the region, the booklet says.
The booklet further says while emperor Akbar and Bahadur Shah Zafar had issued orders against killing of cows in order to maintain peace, a number of foreign travellers, including Francois Bernier, have mentioned that slaughtering cow was a crime in the country. The book also cites poems of Islamic writers to drive home the point.
The MRM has been doing a signature campaign in 23 places in the country, seeking a complete ban on cow slaughter. The booklet claims that of the total 1,75,63,227 signatures, 3,22,969 were by Muslims. Around 60,000 Christians also signed in favour of the ban, it says.
