ARE ALL COWS EQUAL?

Mohan Guruswamy 

We now have a cow problem, particularly in Ram Rajya, where fallow cows and discarded bull calves have become feral and a major threat to crops. But with cow slaughter banned and with lynch mobs self appointed Hindu vigilante groups enforcing the law, the problem is becoming even more acute. Before the advent of Ram Rajya there was some slaughter of feral and fallow cows carried out with local protection. One beef export company even had a leading RSS activist as a director. There was also a lively cows on hooves export to Bangladesh making a BSF posting on the eastern borders a lucrative one. 

Hindu obscurantists now have come to rule the roost in the new Ram Rajya. In the Ram Rajya of yore ritual cow slaughter used to be routinely performed to propitiate the gods. Offerings to gods is just a mumbo-jumbo figleaf for self consumption as prasad. Typically they have created a problem of a necessity. Cows have to be culled. Like where good sense has prevailed wild boars and blue bull antelopes are permitted. Till good sense and common sense prevails, can we find a way out. I pose the question Are All Cows Equal? 

There has been much angry discussion about the virtues of desi cows and their superiority over the proliferating foreign breeds like the Jersey and Holstein. 

So what makes the Hindu cow so special? Her milk, we are told, is nectar and this has now been scientifically proven through studies which show Indian cow milk contains the A2 rather than the A1 beta casein protein. A2 milk is far better for human health than A1, which is found in the milk of “foreign” breeds. Companies in the US are marketing A2 milk on this premise. By that argument, Holstein-Friesian and Jersey cows lack that special something that desi breeds have. But the law, blind to A1 versus A2, treats them on an equal footing.

The American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA) says that compared to the average glass of milk, milk from a Jersey contains 15-20% more protein, 15-18% more calcium and 10-12% more phosphorus, plus high levels of vitamin B12. If your ice cream’s creamy, it is probably made from that milk. Why do you think they cost more than desi cows?

As for that A1 vs miracle A2 milk protein debate, like the Milk vs No Milk debate, there is no correct scientific answer—only what the RSS believes.

 Don’t be fooled by those who tell you that the milk of all desi cows contains the A2 protein. Also, buffalo milk, the mainstay of Indian dairy consumers, doesn’t contain A2. Only 12% of India’s milk came from the indigenous cow in 2016-17, according to the annual report of the department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries. Then stop this propaganda against foreign origin cattle. But for them India would have been a milk deficient country.

The news agency Reuters recently reported that the country’s butchers supported the beef ban but that they wanted the government to at least allow them to slaughter foreign-origin cows like Jerseys. India is the world's largest beef exporter and fifth biggest consumer, with the trade dominated by the Muslim community who have protested against the. But the RSS then argues that all cows are equal. .

Jersey cows are hump-less cows that are light-weight and considered more fine-boned. “The cow progeny of foreign origin, such as the Jersey cow, should be made available for slaughter. This will ensure the preservation of the Indian cow progeny. It will also protect the faith of the Hindus, which we respect,” says M A Khalid, general secretary of All India Milli Council.

According to Justice Ghuman Mal Lodha, Chairman of the  Parliamentary Committee on on Animal Husbandry,  "Cow and its progeny give us wonderful power of resistance against diseases, through its milk and milk products. As stated earlier, Panchagavya, which is a mixture of Cow milk, curd, ghee, urine and dung (juice of fresh cow-dung) prepared as per laid down prescriptions and processes, is a divine substance, which purifies not only the body but the mind as well. For us, ‘Cow’ basically means cows of our indigenous breeds, which possess certain inherent divine virtues enumerated above, which are lacking in the foreign breeds of the cow."

Lodha is a leading RSS intellectual (oxymoron?) and has obviously benefitted from the many desi cow products extolled by the RSS. The RSS should now make up their minds. If "Cow basically means indigenous breed." If they Jerseys, Holsteins and mixed breeds aren't equal to Hindu cows, let them be eaten. Or else they will run wild terrorising farmers, as they have begun in UP.