Outrage over slaughter of a cow v/s a human – an analysis of 100 BJP leaders active on social media

The rate at which cow vigilante attacks are happening across the country is alarming and does not bode well for our democracy. From attacks every few months, the rate has increased to multiple attacks every fortnight. In the month of May, there have been recorded attacks in Malegaon, Bhubhaneswar, Ujjain, Aligarh and Greater Noida. The most horrific tale of gau rakshak terror in recent times was when Pehlu Khan was lynched in Alwar on April 1st, 2017.

Meanwhile, a gazette dated 23rd May, 2017, from the Government of India has banned the sale of cows and buffaloes for slaughter through animal markets. As reported by Hindustan Times, this central regulation for cattle business allows only farmland owners to trade at animal markets. To protest against this new diktat by the Union Government, beef festivals have been arranged in many places and especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Members of Kerala Youth Congress also publicly slaughtered a calf in protest, the video of which went viral and was the reason for a major outrage across the country. BJP milked this opportunity to gain political mileage and many BJP leaders took to Twitter to condemn this incident.

As several tweets from various BJP big-wigs condemning the public slaughter of cattle in Kerala started pouring in, people also started questioning the missing outrage on part of these BJP leaders when cow-vigilante attacks happened and especially in the case of lynching of Pehlu Khan. We analyzed the timelines of 100 most active BJP MPs/MLAs/Spokespersons on Twitter to find out who all condemned the public slaughter of cattle by Kerala Youth Congress. We further further investigated the timelines of those who condemned the slaughter of cattle to see if they condemned the lynching of Pehlu Khan. Based on the list that we investigated, not one BJP leader who outraged about the slaughter of cattle condemned the lynching of Pehlu Khan.

Here’s the list of those who exclusively outraged about cow slaughter and never tweeted about the lynching of Pehlu Khan. The rest didn’t comment on either of the two incidents.

It is one thing to demand absolute food freedom but the public slaughter of a cow by Congress activists in Kerala is grotesque & insensate.

— Swapan Dasgupta (@swapan55) May 28, 2017

Shameful work by Kerala Congress workers. The act of slaughtering cow in open show their contempt for sentiments of 100 crore Hindus.

— Maheish Girri (@MaheishGirri) May 28, 2017

Youth Congress Leaders slaughtering a cow against the will of their Youth Icon. Either he is not their icon or it was not against his will.

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) May 29, 2017

From having a Cow & Calf as their symbol to slaughtering a cow to make a political statement. Congress has stooped to such levels. Shame!

— Shahnawaz Hussain (@ShahnawazBJP) May 29, 2017

@INCIndia leader butchered cow to oppose @narendramodi government& @OfficeOfRG is mum. INC – Indian Noxious Congresshttps://t.co/DYkCfaQYwv

— Ashwini Upadhyay (@AshwiniBJP) May 28, 2017

Now confirmed: Cow slaughterer of Kannur, Kerala is a close aide of Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi inciting violence from Saharanpur to Kerala! https://t.co/XmUE9lnUXt

— Nupur Sharma (@NupurSharmaBJP) May 28, 2017

Congress stands with Hurriyat separatists in Kashmir. Congress kills cow in Kerala. This is the story of Congress party today!

— P Muralidhar Rao (@PMuralidharRao) May 29, 2017

The cruelty to animals is at its peak in Kerala. A cow is slaughtered in public by Sonia's goons in Kannur. Highly condemnable

— H Raja (@HRajaBJP) May 29, 2017

Level to which Congress can go in opposing an issue has been expressed by slaughtering a cow in Kerela & still no remorse

— Sidharth Nath Singh (@sidharthnsingh) May 29, 2017

Followers of PM Modi #GiveUpAMeal to save hungry cows while those of Rahul Gandhi slaughter a cow just to oppose the PM. What a difference!

— C.T.Ravi (@CTRavi_BJP) May 30, 2017

Quite a few in the list above who selectively outraged about cattle slaughter are either elected representatives in present or have been one in the past. All of them swore by the Constitution of India when they either recited or signed an oath with the following words, “I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India”. Since they swore by the Constitution of India, they must try and read the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. They’ll notice that the Preamble starts with the phrase “We, the people of India”, and not “We, the cows of India”.