Gandhi championed cow protection but claimed ‘forcing’ Muslims against consuming cow meat would be wrong
In July 1947, lakhs of Hindus had signed a petition in the form of postcards, telegrams, and letters demanding a ban on cow slaughter. The letter was presented to Gandhi by Dr Rajendra Prasad. Responding to the same, Gandhi observed that cows were sacred and needed to be protected at any cost. However, he stated that he could not force any particular community to stop slaughtering the cows or not consume beef. “How can I force anyone not to slaughter cows unless he is himself so disposed? It is not as if there were only Hindus in the Indian Union. There are Muslims, Parsis, Christians, and other religious groups here,” he was quoted as saying.
At times, he asked Hindus to look after the cows. Not only this, he asked them to undertake ‘Goseva’, and worship them. But when it came to supporting their demands to impose cow slaughter at the hands of specific communities, Gandhi stated that ‘forcing’ others to stop cow slaughter would be wrong.
The father of the nation, as Gandhi is known by an ever-shrinking bunch of his supporters, allegedly believed in the principle of community togetherness and the idea of peace, and ahimsa. He believed that every person living in the country of India had the right to follow his/her religion and the freedom to choose their respective way of life. Stating his personal beliefs about cow slaughter, he, in many of his articles stated that he did not believe in the idea of cow slaughter but could not interfere with the freedom of choice possessed by a few specific community members. He believed that though the slaughtering of cows was never even explicitly requited by Islam, it was wise of him to not force anyone who believed that it was part of their religious practice.
Gandhi asked Hindus to practice Gauseva but opined cow slaughter could never be stopped by law
Further, though Gandhi believed that he could not democratically ask the Muslims to stop slaughtering cows, he believed that he could convince them to stop it. Gandhi was certain that he could persuade the country’s Muslims to stop slaughtering cows as he believed that murdering a cow was equivalent to killing a fellow countryman.
“Muslims were under no religious obligation to slaughter a cow. The Koran so far as I have been able to understand it, declares it to be a sin to take the life of any living being without cause. I want to develop the capacity to convince the Musalmans that to kill the cow is practically to kill their fellow countrymen and friends, the Hindus. The Koran says that there can be no heaven for one who sheds the blood of an innocent neighbour,” Gandhi maintained while he wrote in one of his many speeches.
He believed that cow slaughter could never be stopped by law. Knowledge, education, and the spirit of kindliness towards her alone could put an end to it. “It will not be possible to save those animals that are a burden on the land or, perhaps, even man if he is a burden,” he once said. He equated the importance of the life of a cow to that of a human and said that he would never kill a human being for the protection of a cow or would never kill a cow for saving a human life, be it ever so precious.
While keeping this opinion he asked Hindus to protect cows. Writing in Young India in 1921, Gandhi said the protection of cows was at the very centre of Hinduism. “The central fact of Hinduism is cow protection. Cow protection to me is one of the most wonderful phenomena in human evolution. It takes the human being beyond this species. The cow to me means the entire sub-human world. Man through the cow is enjoined to realize his identity with all that lives. Why the cow was selected for apotheosis is obvious to me. The cow was in India the best companion. She was the giver of plenty. Not only did she give milk, but she also made agriculture possible,” he said.
He added that cow protection was a gift from Hinduism to the world and Hinduism would endure as long as Hindus would stand to preserve the cow. “Hindus will be assessed not by their tilaks, not by the exact singing of mantras, not by their pilgrimages, and not by the most punctilious observance of caste standards, but by their ability to defend the cow,” he added.
Was Gandhi ok with Muslims slaughtering cows?
Gandhi meanwhile also presented his thoughts in the economic sense maintaining that slaughtering cows would lead to the creation of a ‘soulless economy’. He observed that dry cows, who give less or no milk and are of no productive use would be slaughtered often by people but even such acts causing disrespect to ‘Mother Cow’ should not be happening in India. “My religion teaches me that I should by personal conduct instil into the minds of those who might hold different views, the conviction that cow-killing is a sin and that, therefore, it ought to be abandoned,” he said in Young India in 1925.
He also stated a few measures that he thought would make cow slaughter impossible in India. He opined that in the open market, the state should outbid every other buyer to purchase all cattle offered for sale. The state should operate dairies in all major towns to ensure an affordable supply of milk. He asked the state to run tanneries to use the hides, bones, and other remains of all dead cattle in its custody and said that it should offer to buy back any privately owned dead cattle on the open market.
He further stated that the state should maintain model livestock and farms, as well as teach individuals how to breed and care for cattle. He wanted the state to also create broad provisions for pasture land and import the top experts in the world to teach people about cattle science.
“The foregoing scheme presupposes the State upkeep of all old, maimed, and diseased cattle. This no doubt constitutes a heavy burden, but it is a burden which all States, but above all a Hindu State, should gladly bear,” he clearly emphasized.
While putting the onus of Gau Raksha (cow protection) on Hindus and the government of India, Gandhi’s views were quite different when it came to the Muslim population. In 1927, during the annual session of the Congress held at Madras, Gandhi agreed to a draft proposal to bring Hindu-Muslim unity, however, he failed to go through the draft in detail that gave general permission to Muslims to slaughter cows. The issue of the protection of cows was eventually ignored to bring about Hindu-Muslim unity in the nation.
Later responding to the matter, Gandhi stated that he remembered the grave mistake committed by him in the night. “I have committed a grave error. I did not read the draft properly. But in the night I suddenly remembered that that draft gave the Mussulmans general permission to slaughter cows and the question of cow-protection was conveniently ignored! How can I bear this? If they slaughter cows, we cannot stop them by force, it is true, but we can at least win their trust by loving service and explaining our point of view to them, can’t we? As for me, not even to win Swaraj will I renounce my principle of cow protection! Go and tell these people that I do not accept that settlement! No matter what the consequences, I will not be a party to cow slaughter!” he conveniently added up.
Conclusion: Gandhi was never clear on what he exactly had to convey
Gandhi has always allegedly favoured the Muslims given the community served as an important power bloc, often in collusion with the British rulers in the then contemporary politics. Gandhi’s first getaway into politics in South Africa and India was a strong collaboration with Muslim businessmen from the Bombay Presidency, as well as hard-line Islamist leaders such as the Ali brothers and Abdul Bari. Whereas, wealthy caste Hindus, particularly Gujarati and Marwari merchants, provided Gandhi with financial support. Cow protection was their preferred cause (as it was for many other Hindu communities, particularly those in the Hindi belt).
Gandhi accommodated upper caste Hindus by using word symbolism to promote cow protection, consistently asserting it to be the most holy responsibility of Hindus. However, in terms of tangible acts, he catered to the group that appeared to be higher up in his power hierarchy – the Muslims – by maintaining the status quo in their favour. He emphasized that Hindus could only plead to Muslims to cease cow slaughter and that they should not bargain or use force to protect cows; he rejected legal bans on cow protection, even where Hindus were in the majority, without Muslim assent.
Given this, it can be stated that Gandhi’s ‘liberal’ and ‘plural’ values took over his Hindu mind which believed cow protection to be the biggest service Hindus could ever adopt. Gandhi failed to stand by Hindus who demanded a ban on the slaughter of cows at the hands of Muslims while he believed that slaughtering the cows was one of the biggest sins anybody ever could commit. He favored Muslims saying that slaughtering cow was their choice of lifestyle but also stated on the other hand that it was nowhere mentioned in the Quran that cow slaughter was an obligation to follow Islam.
There are a few questions to raise here- Gandhi believed in the principle of ahimsa (non violence), so how could he allow his countrymen (Muslims) to practice cow slaughter? He never allowed it, but then he even never advocated for a ban or stopped them from slaughtering cows. Why? Isn’t this a little bit strange and difficult to digest? How could he not stop his loving countrymen (Muslims) from practising ahimsa in the form of cow slaughter, as the former personally believed that murdering a cow was equal to murdering a human life? How could he ask Hindus to protect cows in the name of religion and not stand by them when they demanded a ban on slaughter practised by other communities in the name of religion?
People have selectively been quoting Gandhi to support their respective arguments on the issue of cow slaughter, but they need to understand that the person whom the nation refers to as a ‘father’ was hardly firm and clear on what he exactly had to convey. By reading his views, one comes to thinking that Gandhi’s personal version of Ahimsa was mostly about avoiding conflict with a lot of appeasement of the violent side added to it.
This is not to criticize Gandhi or laud him for whatever he did, of course, people supporting him will praise him for standing by Muslims and people who don’t like him might end up criticizing him for not taking a firm stand for cow protection or standing by Hindus for that matter. This is just to state facts and to accept the idea that even a personality elevated to near-divine status in the popular narrative can be susceptible to flaws.
