NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not finished underplaying growing incidence of hate speech by his supporters in a TV interview on Monday when a video surfaced of two bruised and battered Muslim men being forced to eat cow dung.
The Indian Express said on Tuesday that the video shows volunteers of the Gau Rakshak Dal (Cow Protection Group) forcing two men, who they suspected were beef transporters, to eat a concoction of cow dung, cow urine, milk, curd and ghee near Delhi recently.
Modi blamed the media in his TV comments for carrying reports of hate speech and communal incidents. He said the media made heroes of the communal propagandists. The surfacing of the video of a two-week old incident belies the claim because without the media’s help no one would know what really transpired with the two men.
Admitting that they had forced the two men — Rizwan and Mukhtiar — to eat “panchgavya” (cow dung concoction) on June 10, Dharmendra Yadav, president of the Gurgaon Gau Rakshak Dal, said volunteers, acting on a tip-off, intercepted a vehicle transporting 700kg of beef from Mewat to Delhi.
“We had to chase the car for 7km before we finally managed to stop them near the Badarpur border,” The Indian Express quoted Yadav as saying. He had no idea who shot the video.
“When we caught them, they had 700kg of beef in their car. We made them eat the panchgavya to teach them a lesson and also to purify them,” Yadav said.
The volunteers can be heard prompting the captives to say “Gau Mata Ki Jai” and “Jai Shri Ram”, both of which the duo say as they struggle to swallow the mixture, The Indian Express reported.
Modi has kept silent over the lynching of a Muslim blacksmith near Delhi over claims his family ate beef. Hindu extremists are now hoping to make this an election plank in Uttar Pradesh where polls are due next year.
Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2016
Comments (61) Closed
Thanks again Jinnah for Pakistan. Its home warts and all.
Respect the sentiments of the majority community if you want back respect.
Pakistan was made for 1000 reasons. This is one of those.
Indian economy is doing great, hope that soon they will also improve in this sector too.
Respect law of land.
You bet, that Modi is going to keep silent, this time as well.
For those Pakistani brother who have doubts about Mr Jinnah's two nation theory and wonder why the partition of India happened.
Respect the sentiments of Hindus...In Muslim countries Hindus cant eat openly in Ramadan.
@Sunny..... n we love each n every 1000 reason...even if it was 1 reason we will accept it n now we are happy ...but u still finding new reasons
@irfan uk Than why didn't take all the people from that religion in his country while dividing a country on the name of Religion.
@irfan uk & you self living in UK? hypo at its best.
@Kamal - Does it justify taking law into your own hand to feed them dung? Ever thought of that before preaching law?
@Suma - So if some "cant eat openly in Ramadan", your crass justification is to feed them dung?
If muslims forced two hindus to eat beef it would have made international new......
Horrific extremism!
We would be forced to do 1000s such acts had Jinnah not earned us a separate homeland.
@Dipak Singh Some actually believed in a 'Just and Equal India'! This proves them all wrong.
Indian democracy and its political parties are without any respect for human rights therefore such incidents are bound to occur. "Law of land" crutch is to hide extremist views by Indian govt-paid bloggers here.
Barbaric.
As a Tamil Hindu, I am ashamed by the actions of fellow hindus , This is bad , the blowback will be harsh and severe, are hindus ready to face the consequences of their actions ? it will be unbearable.
@Akil Akhtar bro-many hindus do eat beef in India, especially the lower casts.Goat meat and buffalo meat are also consumed by hindus.
You will find stupid people in every country. They do not know how much shame they brought to their community.
Feel pity for the muslims in India. Sad.
A few days back an old man was bitten in Pakistan for eating before Iftar.
This is similar incident.
We condemn both the acts.
@Serious Senior - The only difference is all Pakistanis condemned the beaten old man but here...
US should be careful befriending such extremism that will come in the form of Modi government. From frying to fire is a bad selection.
I believe "What a person has in his plate is his/her business".
But then these news about ethnic tension keeps showing up more during Modi's time as there are no corruption charges and Modi is giving a clean administation.
Also, the law & order issues are with the CM and not the PM. This problem happened in Delhi where an anti-modi CM is at the helm of the affairs.
So the CM is the man who has to be blamed.
Follow local laws. Live and let live, give respect and take respect. it is two way traffic.
I am a Pakistani Muslim and I support beef ban if the majority of indians want this. Its their internal matter. Pakistanis or any one else for that matter has no right to comment on this.
So much for a secular country. Such bigotry and hatred and then they claim Hindus and Muslims living in peace side by side!!! Alhamdulillah, that all weaknesses aside, we have Pakistan.
@Wariss ...and don't forget to add 'don't take law into your own hand'.
Violation of human/civic rights must be strongly condemned.
@Suma Two wrongs does not make it right.
There are frequent reports that India is starting to persecute minorities There have been incidents of churches being burnt down
Sad incident and should be roundly condemned.
Please understand that this action is by misguided vigilantes, who should no doubt be convicted of their crime. This is not state sponsored action, so all this chest thumping about situation of minorities in India and justification for partition is bogus. Extremism from non-state parties happens all the time against minorities in almost every islamic nation, and its victims often don't live to tell the tale.
@Random Indian - Nice one! Those looking for excuses take note.
This article is more than enough to open anyone's eyes. But sad to see that we are so selfish in Pakistan that we just love ourselves only. From dictator Ayub Khan to the current government all these people/politicians and interm dictators are busy in filling up their bank accounts and have total disregard of our country. Their level of greed is to this extent that they forget that "We are recognized because of Pakistan; we are safe because of Pakistan and not the other way around". Pakistan is our motherland, if one cannot respect his mother it is useless to trust him. Sincerely
What the transporters have to do with this , ironically, India is the largest exporter of beef in the world, and most of the exporters are Hindus, try banning them. This is hypocrisy and double standards here
What one eats is the prerogative of an individual, be it Beef or Pork and not left to the state to decide. I'm a religious hindu, but I eat beef. Eating beef will not make me any less hindu than anyone else. I strongly condemn this action of few individuals
Thank you Jinnah for my beloved country Pakistan.
@Suma they should be able to eat openly, two wrongs dont make a right.
@Suma but they still can eat in Ramadan, no body will make them eat dung, in some Islamic countries the Hindus are not even 1000 in populations but they can burn their corps and build their temples, it seems that India is walking towards a dark intolerance fashion, i mean specially the BJP and associated local parties!
So, Hindus eat panchgavya. Interesting.
@Sunny - But not everybody left India, and why is that?
@tamil - Who is going to give that blow back, you?
@Pakistani But not for minorities of Pakistan.
@Serious Senior ..... the police man is serving jail
@BEING HUMAN;
'Respect the sentiments of the majority community'
Then what is secularism? The state should be indifferent to all religious sentiments.
@Suma Muslims never eat meat or beef infront of Hindus. What about Hindus working and owning fast food franchises like McDonald, Burger King,Windys, and Subway in Europe, US, Canada, Australia etc.
@Dipak Singh Israel was also created on the basis of religion to provide a homeland for Jews. It doesn't mean that Jews living in other countries shoould abandon their country of birth and move to Israel.
This is bad. Few bad Hindus are giving bad name to our religion. Hindus and Hinduism teach peace, love of human beings. These are bad Hindus.
This is bad. Few bad Hindus are giving bad name to our religion. Hindus and Hinduism teach peace, love of human beings. These are bad Hindus.
its election time in UP again
I am specially going to enjoy a double Beef sandwich tonight at iftaar. Here's to all the hindu extremists.
Shining India? NO. Disgusting India? YES.
Yuk!
Can someone tell me a name of a place in Lahore which serves pork chops??
@Muaaz Shoukat really? But being a Muslim you will not be able to take benefit from that "growing economy"
@Harmony-1© Certainly not. But it deserves a prison sentence
How you feel if Hindus in Pakistan ask you to not eat beef ?. Why cant Muslim majority states give equal religious freedom to minorities ?. Ask them first .
@analyzer does not even make sense. Minorities in Pakistan are free to eat and drink whatever they want.
Well, what can you say? This is the hight of human rights violation. The irony is, the country claims to be the champion of secularism.