EATING BEEF has become anathema. We saw a spate of meat-related lynchings in the last decade. Yet India is the second largest exporter of beef in the world. In 1948, B.R. Ambedkar undertook a study to unearth the history of untouchability. Beef was at the centre of this conspiracy. Brahmanism turned vegetarian only after the sixth century CE. The Vedic religion sanctioned excessive animal sacrifice, and ‘for the Brahmin every day was beef-steak day’. The latter-day love for the cow is a symptom of disdain for Untouchables and a counter to the anti-caste impulses of the Buddhist revolution. Ambedkar exposes the contradictions and hypocrisies internal to its ideology.

The right to eat beef is the right to equality—KANCHA ILAIAH SHEPHERD

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