India: The politics behind the banning of beef in Maharashtra - interview with Salil Misra (newsclick.in)

Newsclick Production, April 25, 2015

Newsclick interviewed Prof. Salil Misra, Ambedkar University to discuss the issue of banning beef in Maharashtra and the politics and history of eating beef in India. Prof. Misra thinks that it is not just a matter of imposing a code on food habits but harming the plurality of India. He explains how the banning of beef is part of a bigger project of homogenizing Hinduism.

Prof. Misra explains how beef eating was part of Indian culture and cow becoming a sacred animal in Hindu religion. He also compared Gandhi’s way of protecting cows to Dayanand Saraswati’s Cow Protection Society which he thinks are more responsible for killing cows.