Last week, the bulls in Spain made headlines. There is now a law in Catalonia, Spain that bans bullfighting. Thus anyone who indulges in this activity will have committed an offence under the Animal Protection Act. To any lover of Hemingway, this would perhaps imply the death of one of the charming features of this Iberian State he wrote so much about. Bull fighting is an extremely important cultural feature of the Spaniards. But then again, that’s not sufficient reason to harass bulls is it? To many however, it’s a progressive move towards a more humane society.
To me, funnily enough, this law served as a reminder of another law related to the bovine family, only this time it’s closer home. I live in Bangalore, where there is great fear among my beef eating friends that very soon they will not be able to eat their beef steaks and lasagna. The Karnataka legislature has a bill preventing cow slaughter pending before it. And although there has been enough noise from both ends of the grazing field, if you will, the noise refuses to die down.
In a series of saffron tinged moves by the BJP government here, this law preventing the slaughter of cows is aimed to safeguard the “conscience” of Hindus. So while the cow is sacred, it seems as if the tigers and elephants in Bandipur matter nought to the government, to speak nothing of the distance they will end up putting between themselves and the non-Hindus in the state. It is disturbing at many levels to see that despite the experience with communal violence, the government insists on hanging on to a bill like this, secular state clearly being no bar. True, respecting another’s sentiments is necessary in a multi-cultural society. But I fail to see why this onus has to be on the minorities alone as it often, if not always is. Or why it has to come at the cost of being forced to imbibe that alien conscience.
So while the animal lover in me rejoices the ban on bull fighting in Spain, the ban on cow slaughter here angers me. At the end of the day the result of both laws is the same, bulls and cows will be saved. But then there is a difference, a rather striking one; one that has to do with the intent of the laws. So while in Spain the government is protecting those whose rights are to be protected (the bulls) despite the cultural beliefs of its people, the government in Karnataka seems to be oh so paternalistic as to take upon itself the burden of protecting the conscience of Hindus, never mind that this is a conscience that has been mollycoddled a bit too much. Oh well, there you go. I’m a hypocrite. If a law saves animals, I’m for it. But if it purports to save the conscience of certain people at the cost of others by saving animals, I disdain it. Politics, it seems, has funny rules.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Facebook comments:
Powered by Facebook Comments