VHP Wants to Ban Cow Slaughter
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has once again raised the issue of enacting laws to ban cow slaughter. According to the VHP the ban is needed because the farmers are forced to sell the cows to slaughter houses since they cannot afford to maintain these cows. The VHP also demanded that the government should create more demand for dairy products which will in turn lead to more profits for the farmers. The VHP this time seems to be using the farmers as an excuse to push its religious agenda (one of the foundations for the formation of VHP was its involvement in movements to ban the slaughter of cows in the 50’s and 60’s).
Many Indians and Indian organizations (particularly the ones that are centered on religion) still have a hard time understanding what it means to be a part of a secular democracy. The Indian government should not be in the business of creating laws that will likely change the eating habits of people just because a section of the population thinks that it is against their religion. Some Hindus believe that eating beef is against the Hindu belief system (it is important to note that Hinduism is a combination of hundreds of different belief systems. There is a popular saying that there are many religions within Hinduism than there are outside of it. There is no common agreed upon text like the Koran, Torah or the Bible that states what a Hindu should and should not do). In many of the texts that are relevant to Hinduism today like the Vedas one can find many verses in favor of and against eating meat like beef.
Many Hindus in Kerala and other parts of South India eat beef. Many believers would point out that this is because of the influence of Christianity and Islam (this may or may not be true in the case of Kerala). But very few Hindus in areas like Uttar Pradesh and parts of Delhi eat beef although these areas have been the center of Islam in India for over a thousand years. I think that the human diet depends on the area they live in and the resources that are available. North India is big and fertile and very suitable for agriculture. People who live in these areas have a predominantly vegetarian diet. Places like Tamil Nadu (mostly arid) and Kerala (very hilly and tropical) are not suited for agriculture and you will find people from these states eat a lot of meat and fish as part of their daily diet.
In general I am against classifying what we eat in terms of whether it is vegetarian or non-vegetarian. I think a lot of what we eat and drink today either falls between these two categories or outside of it. Are French fries vegetarian or non-vegetarian? It depends on the oil it is cooked in (many vegetarians in the United States found out that French fries sold in fast food joints in America was actually cooked in oil that was 6% vegetable oil and 93% beef tallow). Another interesting fact is that many of the vegetarian foods that we eat have a non-vegetarian flavor to them because many human beings instinctively like them (although McDonald’s and other fast food chains have moved to using 100% vegetable oil for making its French fries it still has a beef flavor to it to keep its customers coming back for more). So are these vegetarian foods still really vegetarian?
There is a growing movement in America called Veganism. Veganism is a combination of diet and lifestyle that exclude the use of animals for food or clothing. Personally I believe in the rights of an individual to choose his or her own way of living. But I often wonder whether these individuals (vegetarians and vegans) do what they do for the right reasons. Human beings are omnivores (species that eat both animals and plants). This adaptation of ours is key reason why we are now at the top of the food chain (to be able to eat both meat and vegetables requires a very complex digestive system which most other animals do not have. It also requires teeth that can tear though hard meat and bones and at the same time capable of grinding vegetables).
Many vegetarians also claim that one of the reasons that they are vegetarians is because they think that eating meat involves killing. I have a problem with this argument because now we are beginning to make distinctions on different types of killing. Plant life is life and eating plants and vegetables and fruits involve killing (a seed becomes a plant and it becomes a tree. Most plants have male and female sex organs and they mate (pollination and fertilization)). So you might be able to stop eating meat and consider yourself a “good” person. But every time you are in front of a mirror look at your canine teeth and the nails in your fingers. Now you should be able to clearly see who you really are !!
Related posts:
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- No Beef during Commonwealth Games in Delhi
- Tamil is Part of Indian Heritage
- Hindu Fundamentalists: Ayodhya Similar to Mecca
- Ravi Zacharias: Christian Missionary From India
Category: Cuisine & Travel