The Price of Meat
ON 2 APRIL 2014 , Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat at the time and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime-ministerial candidate, addressed an election rally in Bihar’s Newada district. “The same Yaduvanshi which worships Krishna, which rears and serves cows, who are they with?” Modi asked. “With whom is their leader practising politics? With those who feel proud of slaughtering animals in India.” Yaduvanshi is a reference to the Yadav community, who rear cattle by caste vocation and are a crucial vote base for the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. Modi seemed to be taking a dig at the Samajwadi party for courting Muslim voters. Pitching animal protection as an electoral issue, Modi added, “Brothers and sisters, the government in Delhi neither wants Green Revolution nor does it want White Revolution, they want a Pink Revolution.” Modi explained that by “Pink Revolution” he meant the colour of an animal’s flesh after it is slaughtered. He criticised the United Progressive Alliance government for “proudly stating” that India had earned the highest profits in exporting mutton in the previous year. “If my Yaduvansh brothers want to rear cows, they do not receive a subsidy,” he said. “But the government in Delhi gives subsidies to those who slaughter cows.” He also alleged that slaughterhouses had mushroomed in different parts of the country.
After Modi came to power, cow protection and vegetarianism have become pet issues for the BJP. The communal rhetoric used by Modi and
