RSS leader's solution to stop mob lynchings – give up beef

As the government is struggling to combat the spate of lynchings in the country, an RSS leader has come up with his own solution to the problem - stop eating beef. On Monday, July 23, Indresh Kumar suggested that lynchings would not take place if people stopped eating beef.

The RSS leader went on to add that calling Hindus communal creates a risk of labelling all religions in the world as communal.

Speaking to the press at the inauguration of Jagran Hindu Manch in Ranchi, he said: "Lynchings will stop if people don't eat beef. The cows must be protected and cow dung should be used as cement, then both poverty and violence will end... Jesus was born in a cowshed and that is why in Christianity they talk of 'Holy cow'. In Mecca and Medina killing cow is a crime. Can we not pledge not to kill cows. If we can pledge this our problem of mob lynching will be solved."

Law has to be there and the government must act, but society also needs the right 'sanskaar' to deal with this problem.

Kumar went on to add that any form of violence can never be welcomed. "Any mob violence, be it of your home, locality, caste or party can never be welcomed. But, you tell me if any religious place in the world approves the killing of the cow."

His comments come on the heels of yet another mob lynching recently reported in Alwar, Rajasthan, where a dairy farmer Rakbar Khan was killed. Khan was lynched by a group under the suspicion that he was smuggling cows.

The incidents of mob lynching in the country only seems to be growing in number. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that BJP was to blame, accusing the saffron party of dividing the society based on religion.

On July 17, the Supreme Court stepped in, calling the series of incidents as "horrendous acts of mobocracy" and asked the Parliament to create a new law against lynching. However, the government has been reluctant to do so, preferring to put the onus on WhatsApp to curb the spread of fake news.