Keeping a vigil on the vigilante groups

Ruchika M. Khanna & Deepkamal Kaur

Ropar/Nawanshahr/Jalandhar

Cow protection vigilante groups — mainly headed by right-wing Hindu leaders — seem to have cropped up almost everywhere in Punjab. Having “tied up” with the staff at the 30-odd information collection centres of the Excise Department and road toll plazas, no consignment of hides, carcasses or tallow is allowed to enter the state without these vigilantes taking them on.

Though these vigilante groups deny seeking “goonda tax”, the affected parties —- industry and dairy farmers — highlight the “nuisance” and the additional cost in getting the raw material. 

On June 30, a truck loaded with tallow (“charbi” in local parlance) coming from Dera Bassi and headed for Amritsar, the hub of the soap manufacturing business in Punjab, was stopped by a vigilante group in Rahon. Though the bills of the tallow (Rs 4.75 lakh) were presented, the police, acting under pressure from the “saviours of the cow”, booked the driver and confiscated the goods. This apparently happened because of the refusal of the driver to give “protection money”. 

Incidents of bovine traders and dairy farmers facing police harassment, allegedly at the behest of these bovine protection groups, are also on the rise. Anybody transporting cattle (cows as well as buffaloes) cannot escape the vigilantes unnoticed. They have to either pay the “tax” to ensure a safe passage or their trucks are seized and the animals sent to the gaushalas, often run by the religious affiliates of these gau rakshaks. Raj Kumar, supervisor at the Gaushala Pinjara Pole in Jalandhar, admits that till a few months back, these vigilantes would leave the animals at the gaushala. “However, after we were summoned as a party in a police case registered against the vigilante group by a local court, we have stopped accepting such cows. We have no clue what these groups do with the seized animals now,” he says.

A progressive dairy farmer, Sarwan Singh from Heran village near Jalandhar, says that business has been so badly hit that all animal traders from Gujarat, the biggest market for milch bovines from Punjab, have stopped coming. “The dairy business in the state is about Rs 2,500 crore per annum. But over the past two years, the agents were harassed, their trucks looted and burnt, animals seized and police cases registered against them, which forced them to abandon all trade ties with Punjab. It is a huge loss to dairy farmers of the state, who would earn an additional Rs 20,000 per animal that was sold in Gujarat,” he says, adding that animals are now sold only within the state at anything between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh per animal. 

Most of these incidents largely go unreported mainly because it involves “dharam”. Without thorough investigation, the cases are registered against anyone dealing with the “holy cow”. A few months back, Paramjit Singh of Pandori village near Nakodar was booked for hurting religious sentiments on the complaint of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leaders. His offence: he was skinning a dead cow. It was after much politics was played out between the saffron brigade and the Bahujan Samaj Party that came to his defence that the man was finally bailed out. 

Amardeep Singh Sandhu, chairman of the Punjab Leather Federation, rues that many leather goods manufacturers are not taking orders of goods made from cow hides and the volume of business is being diverted to Uttar Pradesh.

“If cow hides are coming from Saharanpur, each truck encounters an average of two groups on way to Jalandhar (at Ropar and Nawanshahr), which is the hub of leather goods in Punjab. Each group is paid Rs 2,000-5,000 per trip per truck of hide, even though all papers are complete in all respects. Initially when the truckers refused to pay, the hides would be seized and buried in the fields, while the transporters would have to run to save their lives.

“The problem is the same in case of goods coming from Rajasthan, with cow vigilantes in Bathinda gunning for the hides and tallow coming in the state. The suppliers have hiked the rate of cow hides by Rs 10,000 per truck load, citing this as additional protection money,” he claims. 

‘It’s for social cause’

"We are protecting the holy cow. The Excise Department says that 1.5 lakh tonnes of tallow had come in Punjab in about two years, but the soap industry has used just 20,000 tonnes. This means the remaining is being used as adulterant fat in food items. We are serving a social cause by fighting this illegal sale of cows and byproducts." Nixon Kumar, gau raksha dal

‘We don’t take money’

"We have stopped several consignments of cow hides and tallow from being sold and purchased in Punjab. Our members lay siege at nakas whenever we get information regarding transportation of desi cows. It's not that we want to trouble any section of industry, but we just want to protect the cows. We never demand protection money. Dharam ke kaam mein dhanda nahin karte." Sandeep Aggarwal, bajrang dal