Beef and pork : By Justice Katju (7th Part)

Some people called me controversial. Now a perusal of thesauruses and dictionaries revealed that the word 'controversial' has over a hundred meanings.

This motivated me to write a series of articles, six of which have been published, as given below :

https://justicekatju.com/the-controversial-judge-2e4066a69b93

https://thephilox.com/appeal-to-dalits-and-obcs-to-demand-end-of-caste-reservations-by-justice-katju

https://thephilox.com/90percent-indians-are-fools-by-justice-katju-3rd-part

https://thephilox.com/the-british-agent-gandhi-by-justice-katju-4th-part

https://thephilox.com/some-other-foreign-agents-by-justice-katju-5th-part

https://thephilox.com/our-rotten-politicians-by-justice-katju-6th-part

This is the 7th article in the series. One of the reasons why I am called controversial is because of my statements about beef and pork

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq9pPIVg7fk&pp=ygUKa2F0anUgYmVlZg%3D%3D

1. Beef

I eat beef, where legally permitted ( e.g. in Kerala, Goa, the North East, and abroad ).

I see nothing wrong in eating it. Almost the whole world eats beef, e.g. people in North and South America, Europe,.China, Arab countries, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan, Australia, Africa, etc Are they all wicked people, and we Hindus alone sadhu sants ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NVFsF4ElMk&pp=ygUKa2F0anUgYmVlZg%3D%3D

And how can a cow be called 'gomata' ? Can an animal be the mother of a human being ? Those who call a cow gomata have gobar, not brains, in their heads, and make India a laughing stock before the whole world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL3pavgF360&pp=ygUKa2F0anUgYmVlZg%3D%3D

Some people says that a cow is called gomata because she gives us milk to drink. But humans also drink milk of goats, buffaloes, yaks, camel, deer, etc. Are they all to be called 'mata' and worshipped ?

Some other people justify ban on eating beef by saying that worship of cow is part of our culture. But there is a lot of rubbish also in our culture, e.g. caste system and looking down on dalits. Should that too be continued ? No, we should separate the good things in our culture from the bad and outdated things, and reject only the latter.

I regard a cow as just another animal, like a horse or a dog. I am not compelling anyone to eat beef. But I am totally against its prohibition. In my opinion the laws in all states in India against cow slaughter and eating beef should be repealed.

In fact a lot of beef exporters in India are Hindus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRgzxDu9lkY&pp=ygUtanVzdGljZSBrYXRqdSBjb25kZW1uZWQgZm9yIG9wcG9zaW5nIGJlZWYgYmFu

Those who raise a hue and cry against cow slaughter are not at all bothered by the suffering of hundreds of thousands of cows which are not properly fed. I have seen cows in streets eating refuse, filth and garbage. I have seen cows so thin that their ribs are protruding out of their flesh. But nobody is bothered about their suffering.

For saying all this I have been vilified, abused, berated, insulted, reviled and denounced by many champions of Hinduism. But this has not bothered me

Our national aim must be to make India a highly prosperous country in which our people enjoy a high standard of living, nobody is discriminated against, and everybody is given equal opportunity to develop his or her talents. This is possible only when India gets highly industrialized, and this is possible only when rational and scientific thinking is spread among our masses.

My effort through my posts is therefore to spread rational and scientific thinking among Indians, who are presently steeped in casteism, communalism, and superstitions. But I have an uphill task.

For instance, few Indians eat beef, because most Hindus regard cow as sacred or as a mother. My own family members do not eat beef and are conservative Hindus. I am surrounded by an ocean of people in India who would be horrified at the very thought of eating beef. For centuries Hindus have been brainwashed into thinking that cows are sacred, and should not be slaughtered or eaten.

But I have made it a principle that I will never accept anything just because millions or even billions of people believe in it. Unless something appeals to my reason I will never accept it, even if the rest of humanity accepts it. At one time almost everyone believed in witches and ghosts, but is that a good reason to believe in them now ? At one time the whole world believed that the sun went around the earth ( the geocentric theory ), and only one man, Copernicus, believed in the contrary. But today everyone believes in Copernicus' heliocentric theory. So unless I am convinced by sound reasoning I will not accept anything said by anyone.

I coolly reasoned, and saw nothing wrong in eating beef. A cow is only an animal. How can it be regarded as the mother of human beings ? And how can an animal be regarded as sacred ? Human beings are superior to animals because they are more evolved. How can human beings worship as a god a creature which is lower in evolution ?

Also, most of the world eats beef. Are Americans, Europeans, Russians, Chinese, Arabs, Australians, Japanese, Africans, etc and even some people in India all wicked people, and Hindus alone good ? It would be silly to say so.

Being rationally convinced that there was nothing wrong in eating beef, and therefore ban on beef is irrational, and therefore anti-Indian, I spoke out against it, despite all the brickbats I received, and started eating beef myself ( though only where legally permitted )

2. Pork

Islam had declared eating pork as 'haraam' ( prohibited ) because at that time i.e. in the 7th century there were no modern dairies, and pigs would eat filth in the streets. Hence eating pork could spread diseases like tape worm, etc.

But now pigs are raised and fed in modern dairies, with great care of hygiene and sanitation. Hence now the situation has totally changed, and now there is no justification for calling pork 'haraam'.

Hence I tell my Muslim friends to go ahead and eat ham and bacon, as I do