The Kashmir valley has responded in an unprecedented way to the ban on beef put by the government. The ban has gone hayward in the valley, while a major section of the population has openly come out to protest against the ban by consuming beef in the open. The ban on beef has met a thumping resistance in Boulevard, a major tourist destination in the valley, where the tourists are gorging on beef products. Amidst the circumstances prevalent in Kashmir, the ban on beef has achieved nothing but an increase in the communal tension in the region.
The political parties too have not lost a second in taking up their political agenda on the same. The National Conference, the main opposition party in the region has openly declared that it would bring in a bill in the next month’s assembly session to amend the law for the region. The Awami Ittihaad Party has decided on a signature campaign on the same. Engineer Rashid, who is the leader of the AIP, said,
“A district wise signature campaign will be started to press every MLA to vote n favour of the bill. Three will be a sit in Srinagar on 3rd October, on the eve of the Assembly Session.”
Sprints of protest have also arisen in parts apart from the political parties. Qazi Ahmad Yasir, a well known priest observed a hunger strike on Thursday against the ban. The court admitted a fresh petition against the ban and asked the state government to respond immediately to the writ petition filed by S.M. Afzal Qadri, a professor of the University of Kashmir.
The ban on beef is a direct attack on the food practices of the majority of the people living in the valley. The Muslim population, which captures the major populace of the region, turns its head in affirmation against the protests and petitions against the bill. The politics of food played by the right wing is falling apart in the valley.
Also, in the context of the country and the circumstances prevailing in the region, the ban can also be viewed as a means of boosting up the communal violence in the region. Historically, Kashmir has been an area where there have been repeated clashes between the Hindus and Muslims. And in this scenario, when the government has announce a ban on beef the Muslim fundamentalists have hatched upon yet another burning issue to carry on their sectarian ideas. It is only a matter of time before the Jihadis take up the issue and in a region, where there have been mass recruitment in the Jihadi forces because of poor literacy and a feeling of hatred towards the government, this will only make their path a bit easy.
The Hindu-Muslim clashes and the clashes of the localites with the army rule carried on in the border state, which has since time immemorial remained a growing concern for the government of India, will take a step forward because under the ban, surely the Muslims will feel tormented and it will only be a matter of time before a tension springs up in the region.
While protests on the ban has sprung up almost in every nook and corner of the valley, the Additional Advocate General , Vishal Sharma, the government counsel in the case has been removed from the Home Department on account of his failure to defend the case. Jugal Kishore Sharma, the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party said,
“Our stand is clear. We feel the decision taken by the HC to ban beef must be strictly implemented.”
The BJP continues its heretical agenda against the minority in the state despite the opposition of the bill by its ally in the state, the People’s Democratic Party. M.Mufti, the president of the PDP has also sung protests against the ban but his words and views remain unheard amidst the fascist tunes of the BJP. The BJP had also ensured that the PIL submitted by P. Seth, the deputy advocate general was not withdrawn. The BJP state president further had said,
“I do not know what the PDP president said, but we will not allow any bill to go through the assembly to revoke the slaughter of bovines.”
The sorry state of the alliance has yet again furnished up in the growing majoritarian politics played by the BJP. While this has also brought forth a risk of identity of all the secular and regional parties who have allied with the BJP. The BJP in its obnoxious drive to bring about the Hindutwa agenda completely ignores the secular agenda carried forward by many of its allies in the state government. The stand taken the left parties and some other secular parties against the alliance with such forces prove correct under the circumstances.
(News Source – The Hindu )
