India’s movement to protect cows is rooted in politics, not religion
How the Hindu right co-opted the cow
The lynching began with an announcement over the loudspeaker of the local temple: a calf had been slaughtered. It was 28th September 2015, around the Eid holiday, and Hindu-Muslim tensions were running high in the village of Bisara in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The broadcast roused the village’s Hindu residents, who consider the cow sacred. They were convinced one of a handful of Muslim families in Bisara, the Akhlaqs, had slaughtered the cow for Eid.
This article appeared in the Christmas Specials section of the print edition under the headline “The myth of the holy cow”
Christmas Specials December 24th 2022
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