RSS mouthpiece “Panchajanya” has said in its latest edition that the Vedas order killing of those who kill cows as it involves a question of life and death for many Hindus.
The saying came three weeks after the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh over rumours of consuming beef. The incident snowballed into a major controversy.
The “Panchajanya” article justified Akhlaq’s lynching saying it was a “natural reaction” to the “sin” of cow slaughter.
“Veda Ka Adesh Hai Ki Gau Hatya Karne Wale Pataki Ke Pran Le Lo. Hum Mein Se Bahuton Ke Liye To Yah Jivan-Maran Ka Prashn Hai (It is an order from the Vedas to take away life of the sinner who kills a cow. It is a matter of life and death for many of us),” the article , titled ‘Is Utpat ke Us paar’ (The other side of this disturbance), said.
Cow slaughter is “such a big thing” for Hindus that for hundreds of years their ancestors had staked their lives to prevent it and counter the killers, it noted. “There are hundreds of such occasions in history when Muslim invaders thrust beef into our mouths to convert Hindus into Muslims,” it added. The article in the weekly also criticised the writers who have been returning their Sahitya Akademi awards in protest against the killing of Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi, Akhlaq’s lynching and the “rising intolerance” in the country.
“You (writers) did not see the cow slaughter by Akhlaq. You didn’t see the fact that none of the media reports on Dadri mentioned any personal enmity of anyone with Akhlaq. Dadri village has never even seen any communal tension. One could have believed Akhlaq’s death to be without reason but then we have the Newton’s law of every action inviting an equal and opposite reaction,” the article said.
The article also suggested that incidents like Dadri lynching can not be prevented until a time comes when people “respect the feelings of 80 per cent majority”.
“Of course, India has laws and no one has the right to take laws into their hands but what should one say about those people and their leaders who, while living among 80 percent Hindus, have no concerns for the majority sentiment,” it asked. The “radical” Muslim organisations have been working since centuries to “vitiate” the minds of those converted to Islam on issues such as cow protection.
“Madrassas and India’s Muslim leadership teach the Muslims to hate all their traditions. It is perhaps due to the acts (of radicals) that Akhlaq ended up killing a cow though the probe findings are yet to come out,” the article charged.