From Hodal: A graveyard-like silence has descended on the impoverished house of Gopal in the nondescript village of Sondh in Hodal, Haryana. Gopal, a member of the Gau Sewa Samiti and a small farmer with two young children, was shot by Muslim cow thieves when he tried to stop their vehicle on July 29. On the mattresses spread out on the worn-out floors of the porch of the house sat relatives and elders of the village who had come to express their grief. Circles of smoke from the hookahs they cast in the air have made the ambiance claustrophobic and toxic. It seems the tragedy has made the mourners speechless: but the anger is quite palpable. Their eyes, sunken and glazed with pain, betray the fears and hopelessness “of being a Hindu”. The silence is only broken by the occasional shrill wails of women from inside when a wave of veiled visitors enters.
According to Gopal’s cousin Satvir Sorout, the 34-year-old had only “one mission” in life – gau sewa. “That is our dharma, our religion. Without any support, gau rakshaks used to take on these criminal Mevs (Muslim cow thieves) who are armed to the teeth. He sacrificed his life for gau mata,” he added. Reverence to cows is so deep-rooted among Hindus in these areas of Haryana which was once a part of Brij Bhumi, where eons ago Lord Krishna, the original Gopal, had grazed his cows.
A farmer whose total land holding is not more than one acre was the sole breadwinner of his family consisting of his widowed mother, wife and two children – aged four and 6 years old. He along with his colleagues have saved more than 4,000 smuggled cows in the last four years. The other members of the Samiti are also from similar modest backgrounds and take on the most criminal network of cow thieves.
According to Tarun Yogi, an IT professional, the policemen also work hand-in-glove with the criminals. “It is said that these stolen cows/bulls are smuggled to Bangladesh where are a healthy cow/bull fetches about Rs 1-2 lakh. This is highly lucrative business for them. The police also get a cut,” he added.
The gau rakshaks know that the task they have taken upon themselves is fraught with danger.
“They (cow thieves) have all kinds of weapons. One of our colleagues have received bullet injuries. They hit our bikes and try to injure us. We go unarmed,” says Bablu, a gau rakshak. According to him, a total of six gau rakshaks have lost their lives at the hands of cow smugglers in the state.
It is no surprise that the English media, Left-Liberal circles and professional outrage gangs and do-gooders chose to ignore the incident, as it doesn’t fit into their narrative. Dilnawaz Pasha, the correspondent of BBC News Hindi, who reported the incident sought to cast doubts on the veracity of the claim that Muslim cow thieves were behind the murder. Is it another attempt by media to paint perpetrators as victims? After all, in the Leftist scheme of things, Muslims are always the underdogs and Hindus the aggressors.
The victim’s family members said they were upset by the attitude of the state government and BJP which came to power in the name of Gau mata. “We gave all our votes to the BJP. But the local MLA or MP did not care to even visit us, leave alone any support,” said Sorout.
Meanwhile, on August 2, Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar said his government won’t spare the culprits who murdered Gopal.
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