How Visuals of Hundreds of Dead Bovines in Rajasthan Reflect the Hollowness of the Political Rhetoric Around Cows |
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Jaipur: When 26-year-old Hakam Dan – a resident of Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district – received information on Sunday (May 24) that a sick bull was lying at the dumping yard of the local municipal council, he rushed to the spot along with several others.
The sight that greeted him at the dumping yard – situated more than five kilometres from the district headquarters – left Dan shocked.
“The bull couldn’t be saved and died before we reached. All around us we could see bovine carcasses. Dead cows and bulls dumped in the open amid garbage and plastic waste. In our estimates, the number of carcasses amounted to more than thousand. Some of the carcasses had decomposed in the searing heat and the stench was unbearable,” Dan told The Wire.
Dan, who said that he is the district president of the Gaurakshak Sewa Samiti – a cow protection group – claimed that hundreds of animal carcasses were left at the dumping yard over a long stretch.
“Despite the fact that this is a longstanding issue and we had earlier demanded that the administration should ensure proper disposal of dead bovine carcasses, hundreds of carcasses were strewn across the dumping yard. It was very painful to see the cow, whom we have given the status of our mother to see in this state. I decided to shoot videos and upload them on social media to highlight the sorry state of affairs,” said Dan.
As videos of the bovine carcasses from the dumping yard went viral on social media, it led to severe outrage, with many users slamming the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the issue. The saffron party routinely invokes the cow in its political rhetoric as a sacred symbol of utmost importance to the Hindu religion.
The gap between political speeches and the situation on the ground
The fact that the incident took place in Rajasthan, a BJP-ruled state where the country’s first ministry dedicated to cows was established back in 2014 by the then BJP government, further reveals the gap between political........