It is now becoming clear that the Maharashtra government’s policy of banning the sale, production and consumption of beef is becoming a real problem. It is not just affecting consumers – who, after all, can shift to other foods – but playing havoc with the lives of farmers, butchers and even those who use leather as a raw material.
Firstly, let us get the facts right. Though the Maharashtra chief minister had jubilantly announced in March last year that his dream of getting beef banned had finally come true, it was not as if cow slaughter was banned. That was always disallowed; what the President signed was a bill extending that ban to bullocks and oxen, the progeny of cows. And that has disrupted the rural economy.
Reports coming in from the hinterland speak of farmers who are finding it difficult to make ends meet because they cannot sell their cattle after a particular age. The farmers use the cattle – bullocks and oxen mainly – in the fields and then, when they get beyond a particular age, sell them. He then uses the money to buy new livestock. It is an age-old system that is beneficial to all concerned, including the farmer, who now has sturdy bullocks which are useful.
The new law put an end to that. Stringent punishment was announced for anyone contravening the new law; naturally, no one wanted to take a chance. Reports quote farmers as saying that there are no buyers for their cattle and they don’t have the money to feed them. The result? Cattle left to fend for themselves, which will lead to another disaster.
No butcher wants to take a chance. After the couple of instances when butchers were fingered by vigilantes for stocking beef – wrongly, as it turned out – nobody wants to take a risk. Hence, the cattle is not picked up by anyone. Bizarrely, even out of state buyers have vanished, because vigilante cow protection teams often stop trucks at the borders. Thus, while the BJP run state of Goa has a demand, no bullocks and oxen reach there from Maharashtra. It is a sorry situation.
The BJP MP from Beed has brought this to the government’s attention but of course, for Fadnavis and his mentors, saving the cow rather than the farmer is of a higher priority. There were tall promises made of setting up shelters where old cattle would be kept but so far, there have been no signs of these being erected.
Another sector that has been suffering is the chappal- making business in Kolhapur, which relied on cheap leather. Now they have to buy leather coming in from the south and prices have shot up. An industry already suffering from changing trends and high labour prices is now suffering for lack of raw material.
The irony is that none of this has made the slightest impact in the corridors of power. Forget the chief minister – whose current preoccupation is the slogan of Bharat Mata ki Jai – not even the other ministers have realised that they need to do something, and quickly.
The entire Marathwada region is suffering because of drought and the cattle situation has exacerbated the problems of farmers, but it appears that the government has not been able to address their woes in any serious way.
The ban on cattle slaughter is not necessarily the sole cause of these problems in Marathwada and elsewhere. Poor rainfall and bad water management have contributed too. Nor are farm suicides a new phenomenon. But any government worth the name should be working hard to alleviate the problems of the afflicted. It is no use pointing fingers at the previous administration for its inefficiency—that is why the people voted it out.
In any case, a chief minister and his team ought to be seen working on such issues on an emergency basis. Bharat Mata ki Jai is not a priority of any kind. CM Fadnavis says that in his speech he devoted barely a few minutes to Bharat Mata ki Jai and the rest was about more immediate issues, including the situation in Marathwada. It is the media which picked this up and made a big story about it.
That may be so. But the natural question that arises is —why is the declaration of Bharat Mata ki Jai an issue at all? Why should it become the litmus test for patriotism? Why rake up non-issues in the first place? We all know that the BJP sees itself as the sole custodian of nationalism and patriotism; but where does it say that shouting a slogan is the way a citizen proves he or she is loyal to the nation?
The High Court has invoked the dire situation in Marathwada with the use of water in the forthcoming IPL tournament. Clearly, their lordships too realise what is more important and what needs to be tackled on a war footing. The severe problems in an important part of the State which affects millions of citizens is not something that will go away; there may not be any elections in the offing now, but the people will not forget.
The State government has a severe perception problem it has to address, and quickly. Mere PR will not do. If there are plans on the ground, the citizens need to be told about it. From the ordinary citizen’s point of view, this is a government with its priorities misplaced.
