Professor Kancha Ilaiah burst into popular consciousness with his bestseller
Why I Am Not a Hindu—A Sudra Critique of Hindutva Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy.
The director of the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at Maulana Azad National Urdu University—a prominent central university in Hyderabad—Ilaiah peels away the layers of meanings shrouding the ban imposed on cattle slaughter in some Indian states.
Do you think a ban on beef is a cultural imposition on certain sections of Hindus, Muslims and Christians?
It is definitely a cultural imposition— particularly on indigenous groups, such as tribals and Dalits. The question of cultural imposition on Muslims and Christians comes later.
Why do you say that?
Historically, all Indian masses, including the Brahmins, used to eat beef, both in what is called the Vedic and the post-Vedic period. Gautam Buddha rebelled against this tradition because during his time there was a huge consumption of beef by the priestly class. Buddha asked people not to kill cows for sacrifice… not to kill beyond what they needed for consumption. From that stage to the modern period, most of the untouchables, for instance, the Dalits in south India, sustained themselves on beef in summer, when there used to be massive food scarcity. They would eat even dead or diseased cattle.
In my own village, when I was a child, there were about 70 to 80 Dalit families. I remember they used to have full-stomach food in summer only when they were given cattle either sick or dead. They never received rice, millet or any regular food. This situation continues even now.
As for Muslims, meat has been a historical and religiously accepted food. Again, all Muslims were and are not as poverty-stricken as Dalits were. They have other food resources.
History is proof most Hindus never had any beef with beef ? Quartz
I do not have any first hand experience of Beef use in India. I was shocked with butchering of goats in Kalibari Temple.
