Dalit protests across the country against being hounded by Hindutva forces for playing their timeless role in the cow economy offer a powerful lesson on how the country runs and is governed, or barely so.
Three months ago, when Arvind Subramanian, the government's chief economic adviser, was asked by students in Mumbai University if the beef ban would have an impact on farmers' income or the rural economy, he replied, according to a PTI report, "You know that if I answer this question I will lose my job." If that was not dramatic enough, he went on to add, "But thank you nevertheless for asking that question." He was telling the students both where the country's politics stood and where he himself did.
Nearly a year ago, the country was rocked by a Muslim man being killed not too far from Delhi by a mob for allegedly storing beef in his house. After several attacks across north India, on mostly Muslims carrying cattle or meat suspected to be beef, just under a month ago four Dalit men skinning a dead cow were stripped to the waist, strapped to an SUV, beaten up and a recording of it uploaded on social media by a group of gau rakshaks or cow vigilante in Una, Gujarat. This led to the Dalit agitation and the resignation of the already beleaguered Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel.
Despite all this, the prime minister maintained a deafening silence on the issue. Then last week an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated organisation held a meeting in Una at which religious and Dalit leaders condemned the flogging of the Dalit youths as "hooliganism in the name of gau raksha." Three days after the RSS's first utterance on the issue, Mr Modi has come out with the most forthright statements on two successive days, condemning the attacks on Dalits.
Seeking to justify his delayed response, Mr Modi said, along with his first comments, that people expected him to react to all kinds of happenings, from the panchayat level upwards. Considering the seriousness of the matter, what is more plausible is that Mr Modi was working behind the scenes to evolve a common position with the RSS. This helps us understand how the country is being run today. Significantly, Mr Modi and the RSS spoke up only after attacks on Muslims spread to Dalits.
If this is how things are handled at the top, the reality on the ground is no less significant. The Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister of Rajasthan has personally intervened after it came to light that a thousand cows have died so far this year at a government-run cowshed in the state. Two government officials at the shed have been suspended. The contract workers at the shed who had gone on strike earlier for not being paid their wages have come back to work after the top-level intervention. Learning: Government systems are notoriously inefficient.
Meanwhile, according to The Indian Express, organised corruption has emerged in Punjab over shipment of cattle. Earlier, one permit was needed for a truck to do the job. Today, after state support for cow protection and a strict ban on killing of cows, cattle traders need three certificates (requiring more paperwork, time and speed money) and have to pay to gau rakshaks a bribe of Rs 200 per head of cattle shipped. This is making the trade unviable. A study by Punjab Agricultural University, reported in the same paper, has highlighted the problems faced by Punjab cattle breeders, who are landed with cross breeds turned infertile which can neither be abandoned nor slaughtered today. Learning: Indians are ingenious in finding new avenues for rent seeking and corruption.
The role of the cow in the life of the Indian farmer is well known. Cows are reared for milk and bulls to work as draught animals. Once a cow gets too old and stops calving and lactating, it becomes an economic burden to the farmer. Same with the bull which is too old to drag load. The cow or the bull is then sold by the farmer to be put down and the cadaver skinned for what the stuff recovered will fetch. If the farmer cannot sell old cattle, he will let them loose. They will eventually die in the open from hunger, old age and disease, as they keep doing across the country. Then these cadavers will be picked up by those who know what to do with them.
The critical social reality is that Muslims mostly handle the cattle trade, including slaughtering of old animals. On the other hand, taking away dead animals and dealing with them is a lowly job, shunned by caste Hindus, and done mostly by Dalits. The Mumbai University students, Dr Subramanian and many other Indians know all this. Only, the Sangh Parivar does not appear to have thought things out before launching on cow protection as a weapon for political mobilisation.
Mr Modi correctly said, those who love the cow should ensure that she does not eat plastic bags. He could have, but has not, added that those who worship the cow should also ensure that there is not a single stray animal aimlessly roaming about, posing a hazard to themselves and the traffic. The corollary to this would be that caste Hindus should be as ready as Dalits to take care of dead cattle. For Mr Modi to say all this would be politically too risky.
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