Cow vigilantism has remained one of the hot-button issues 
 for nearly all the years of the Modi government. 
People in the media and regular folks 
folks on social media platforms have highlighted,
discussed, and debated gau rakshaks,
 a label for individuals who take the law into their hands
and deliver mob-like justice for protection of their cattle.
Closely related to the issue of cow vigilantism
has been the lynching of Muslims,
which is also something we’ve seen happen over the years.
But more people than are qualified have had their say
on this matter over the years.
 Predominantly, the cow issue has been linked 
directly with the Modi government.
 The media, the opposition, as well as many in the activist
community have rallied against the government 
on the basis of certain incidents.
And it sadly smacks of opportunism for the media to project,
for instance, some kind of a long-standing communal
 disharmony when there may be none.
However, recently, Ruchir Ferrero Sharma,
who generally writes on public policy 
and international affairs,
offered a fresh take on the matter in his story for Swarajya
His insight is a good addition to the discourse.
Let me explain.
According to Sharma, what we see as the twin problem
 of cow vigilantism and Muslim lynching is actually
 a mob justice and meat mafia problem.
Now is that just a cosmetic change? Not really.
It brings into the spotlight the plight of the rural 
poor in India,
who are across the board often the victims,
rather than apportioning victimhood to people 
based on religion.
It puts the state apparatus in the dock for the cow issue
 and looks at it largely as a law and order problem.
The insight is illuminating because it allows us to go
to the root of the problem and see where the problem arises,
 rather than combat the symptoms alone.
So, what is the root cause?
It has to do with a system that does not serve
 the poor the way it does the rich.
In cow vigilantism cases, we generally have two players
 those who rear cattle and want to protect it
 and those who trade in cattle,
 often thieves who steal cattle to run their meat shops.
The cow protectors who find their cattle stolen overnight
 initially look to the police for help.
 But generally the police don’t respond and sometimes
 even encourage the community to sort out the matter
 for themselves.
The [police] had come the other day.
 We told them about what had happened. 
They said, "We have limited manpower. 
You handle some of it yourself...”
This is when the cow protection groups,
 helpless at finding their productive investment
or some even consider cows a family member
taken away from them, decide to take matters
into their own hands. A kind of mob justice.
Does it justify that? No, of course not.
But, again, this is an attempt to understand
 the roots of the problem.
Then, you might wonder why Muslims are disproportionately
the victims in these cases.
If you believe media reports, 
 you might come away thinking that
it’s a long-standing tribal hatred for the Muslim community.
But that’s not the case.
The fact is, cattle smuggling gangs almost exclusively
 recruit members from the Muslim community,
and they happen to hold a virtual monopoly 
on the red meat trade.
The ordinary Muslims who are roped into this business,
 too, are the victims here.
Poor Muslims from vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds
 are victimised by profit-seeking meat industry barons,
who only want to maximise their returns.
So, both cattle owners and cattle thieves are victims.
Sharma writes that “they are victims of dehumanising
and degrading rural poverty,
 of the brutal business and political interests of those
who control a cut-throat meat industry,
and of a colonial-era police that is focused on imposing
order at any cost instead of serving the community.”
So, the real culprits are political and moral corruption.
What’s the solution, then?
It would be to provide access to these young 
and vulnerable men to better livelihoods 
so that they can have a more secure life,
not have to be compelled into an industry to make a living.
How many people do you think grow up wanting 
 to work at a slaughterhouse or trade illegally in cattle?
What also could be done 
is put community policing initiatives in place
 to deter antisocial behaviour such as cattle theft.
One way or another,
 it’s a matter of getting law and order right.
That would go a long way towards deterring both gau
rakshaks and cow smugglers.
And what would undeniably help is if the media stopped
shaping opportunistic narratives with only the objective 
of scoring points against the government. 
There’s a real need out there to know exactly
what is happening on the ground,
 and the focus must remain on that.
What do you think? We’d like to hear from you.
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