Several organizations among Muslims are demanding that the cow, which is considered sacred by large segments of Hindus, be granted the status of the national animal in India. The current national animal is the tiger. The cow currently has no such official status, but demand for it has historically come from Hindu nationalist groups and BJP lawmakers.
The push for the Islamic oath came ahead of Eid al-Adha, a holiday during which animals, including goats and cows, are traditionally sacrificed. Maulana Arshad Madani, head of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind faction called Afar himself, made the demand, which he said he had even made at an inter-religious conference in Mumbai in 2014, that the cow be declared a national animal, and that strict legal provisions be enacted against its slaughter and trafficking.
“It can help end extrajudicial killings.”
Maulana Shahabuddin Rizvi, national president of a group called All India Jamaat-e-Islami, told news agency PTI that he plans to hold a meeting of representatives of Islamic organizations in Delhi to draft a joint memorandum to submit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said the declaration would unify cow slaughter laws across the country and help end incidents of lynching carried out in the name of cow protection.
Siraj Qureshi, president of the All India Qureshi Community, whose members are traditionally involved in the meat trade, said his organization was ready to seek a meeting with the prime minister on the issue.
Maulana Yaqub Abbas, of the All India Shia Personal Law Board, said the government’s approach to cow protection should be consistent across all states, not selective.
Recently in West Bengal, where the BJP came to power this month, there was a demand to allow the slaughter of only cows above a certain age, in line with some existing laws.
Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said the cow should be declared a national animal out of respect for Hindu religious sentiments.
BJP’s demand, traditionally
The demand to declare the cow as a national animal is not new and has come mainly from within the BJP. Cow protection has been a declared part of the BJP’s agenda, with the party’s 2014 manifesto pledging to protect the animal as part of preserving India’s cultural heritage, in line with a long-running campaign by the party’s parent body, the RSS, for tougher legislation against cow slaughter.
But criticism from Muslim leaders and opposition parties remains that the BJP’s stance on beef is inconsistent. While the party has imposed a strict ban on cow slaughter in many states, especially in northern and central India, it has taken a more lenient approach in Goa and some northeastern states including Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura.
Critics, including opposition politicians, have pointed out that under the BJP government, India has emerged as a major beef exporter, with BJP governments in most states of the country.
Kausar Hayat Khan of the Indian Union Muslim League, which supports national demand for animals, noted that beef is still freely consumed in the BJP-ruled states of Goa, Assam and northeastern states, while the party is taking a tough line in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He said a single national law would eliminate this contradiction.
Now, the order is being lifted in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, about a year before the 2027 state assembly elections; It comes from Islamic organizations.
