Under saffron nationalism, cow at centre of India's violent social upheaval

As nationalism surges in India, cows are protected but minorities not so much

Indolent Indian cows sitting or eating on the busiest roads of the country’s cities are common sights for anyone who has ever visited the subcontinent.

Today, this mammal is at the centre of the country’s increasingly violent social upheaval. In the name of defending Hindu values, vigilante mobs are lynching and killing people suspected of eating or trading cows, and the country’s openly hindutva, or “Hindu-first”, government has done little to stop them.

In fact, on April 25, the right-wing ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), proposed a measure to identify