Indian PM demands tolerance in wake of beef murders

Facing mounting criticism that he has failed to confront religious intolerance in his Hindu nationalist party, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has sent his chief political enforcer to order party leaders to refrain from making statements that could be seen as condoning bigotry or violence against people who eat beef.

In the past month three people have died after being attacked by Hindus enraged at reports of cows being slaughtered, smuggled or consumed. The latest fatality came Sunday, when a 16-year-old boy died from injuries he suffered on October 9th when a Hindu mob attacked a truck with a gas bomb in the Kashmir Valley in northern India.

The mob formed when a local lawmaker served kebabs and hamburgers at a “beef party” to protest against a proposed ban on the meat in Jammu and Kashmir.

As word spread of the teenager’s death Mr Modi’s political enforcer, Amit Shah, president of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was in the process of reprimanding several members of the so-called beef brigade – high-profile party officials who have recently made increasingly provocative statements widely interpreted as excusing or justifying assaults on those who slaughter or consume cows, which many Hindus consider sacred.

Indeed, the latest issue of Panchjanya, a magazine published by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP's ideological parent, includes an article that cites Hindu scripture to justify killing "sinners" who slaughter cows.

Such comments, along with Mr Modi’s failure to condemn them promptly, have contributed to a growing political backlash. Dozens of India’s leading writers, for example, are returning the nation’s highest literary award to protest what they view as rising intolerance under Mr Modi’s government.

The writers’ revolt exploded after September 28th, when several hundred Hindu men ransacked a home in a village east of Delhi because a rumour had spread that the family there was eating beef. Mohammed Ikhlaq, one of the few Muslims who lives in the village, Bisada, was beaten to death, and his son was seriously wounded.

In the days after Ikhlaq’s killing, many local BJP leaders condemned the police decision to charge 10 men with murder. Culture minister Mahesh Sharma said Ikhlaq’s killing should be considered an “accident”. According to the Indian network NDTV, Mr Sharma was among those whom Mr Shah reprimanded Sunday.

Mr Shah also summoned Sakshi Maharaj, a BJP member of parliament, who on Saturday advocated the death penalty for anyone caught slaughtering a cow. “Leaders need to change their mindset or get beaten up by the people in full public view,” Mr Maharaj said at a public event, according to news media accounts.

Mr Shah also reprimanded Manohar Lal Khattar, the chief minister of Haryana state in the north, who said in a recent interview with the Indian Express, "Muslims can live here, but in this country, they will have to stop eating beef.

“The cow,” he continued, “is a matter of faith in this country. Muslims can live without beef, can’t they?”

According to the Indian Express, Mr Modi has conveyed "extreme displeasure" about statements of this sort, and Mr Shah reportedly argued that the comments were a damaging distraction just as the party was trying to win elections in the northeastern state of Bihar by convincing voters that it would bolster economic development.

One of Mr Modi's most influential political allies, Naresh Gujral, the son of former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, told the Press Trust of India that "motor mouths" in the party were damaging Mr Modi "more than anyone else". Mr Gujral said it was "high time" to send the message "that this kind of nonsense will not be tolerated."

(New York Times)