The Big Story: Shoot me

Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again spoke up regarding the menace of gau rakshaks (cow protection vigilantes) on Sunday, this time at a rally in Telangana, that anyone who uses that excuse to commit violence should be punished.

Modi explicitly made the matter about Dalits, drawing a direct connection to the unrest in Gujarat among Dalits after four were stripped and beaten up by gau rakshak criminals.

"Be wary of 'nakli' (fake) gau rakshaks, they have nothing to do with cow. Governments should crack down on them," he said at one rally.

"If you have a problem, if you feel like attacking someone, attack me, not my Dalit brothers. If you want to shoot anyone, shoot me, not my Dalit brothers," he added at an another.

The comments are important, if very belated. They not only come some time after the violence turned into protests in Gujarat, they also follow a full year after the dreadful lynching in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, when a mob killed a man after it suspected him of storing beef.

Even though Modi sought to aim his ire squarely at those who attack Dalits and, moreover, only delegitimised "nakli" gau rakshaks, the message seems to have been received. There's no better demonstration of this than the fact that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Gujarat unit reacted angrily to his remarks, (although that unit has never really got along with Modi).

Now of course this has to turn into action on the ground. Modi asked state government to draw up plans and crack down on gau rakshak gangs, which have been committing violence in many parts of the country. Most of these criminals have been emboldened by the BJP's and the broader Sangh Parivar's campaign to outlaw beef and criticise anyone who deviates from the Hindutva path. Will Modi's stern statements actually turn into action?

The Big Scroll
Cow calculus: What Modi stood to lose by keeping silent on gau rakshaks.

Political Pickings

  1. Here's a look at the names in Gujarat's new Cabinet who will be expected to steady the ship for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the run-up to next year's elections. 
  2. The amended Constitutional Amendment which will pave the way for the Goods and Services Tax Bill is expected to be in the Lok Sabha today, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected to speak.
  3. The BJP is all set to begin its Tiranga Yatra, which will look to build patriotism around the country, and is expected to run from August 15 to September 17.
  4. The Kerala Congress (Mani) has quit the United Democratic Front, a Congress-led alliance in Kerala, after three decades. 

Punditry

  1. Christophe Jaffrelot in the Indian Express says the plight of the Dalits cannot be attributed to just the Bharatiya Janata Party: The Congress too is to blame. 
  2. A leader in the Hindu says the government needs to work hard to ensure attacks like the one in Kokrajhar do not endanger the shaky peace in parts of the Northeast.
  3. Manas Chakravarty in Mint asks: When is a 4% inflation target really 4%?

Don't Miss
Prathibha Parameswaran explains how the Tamil film industry is opening up new markets.

“Even before the ’80s, the foreign markets were called Far East, meaning Malaysia Singapore and Sri Lanka, the Middle East and South East, and this is still the commonly used term for overseas markets,” explained Vijayakumar.

The international territory map started expanding considerably in the ’90s. Trade experts attribute this growth partly to the political unrest in neighbouring Sri Lanka. Scores of Sri Lankan Tamilians migrated to Canada and countries in Europe, and they have since emerged as the largest audience for Tamil films globally. “The entire Tamil film market overseas is dependent on Sri Lankan Tamils who had relocated to different parts of the world, not on people from Tamil Nadu or other states in India,” Vijaykumar explained.