RSS wing starts signature campaign for Muslims affected by beef ban

From yesterday, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), a wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has started collecting signatures from the Muslim community on the beef ban. Their aim is to get 1 lakh signatures and submit them to the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister, asking them to provide employment to the people rendered jobless because of the ban. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Devendra Fadnavis government, earlier this year got the President's assent to the law that makes slaughtering, or even possession of cow and calf meat a crime. There was a major uproar from various sections of society that protested against the beef ban.

Participants at the function at Byculla where the signature campaign was launched

The RSS, the parent body of the BJP, which is considered the brain behind the beef ban, has now joined the protest in its own way.

MRM, the Muslim wing of RSS, for the last one month has been trying to hold meetings across the state, and senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar, who is also in-charge of MRM, has come down to the state often and spoken in favour of the beef ban.

The signature campaign by MRM will run for a month and in the month of June, the signatures will be submitted to the Chief Minister.

The memorandum readied by MRM reads that thousands have been rendered jobless because of the beef ban and hence, the government should give them preference over jobs in the government sector and chalk out a proper rehabilitation programme for them. The signature campaign started from Friday at Byculla.

At no point does the memorandum or the leaders of MRM mention that they are against the beef ban, instead in a meeting last month, at Mira Road, Kumar had supported the beef ban in presence of Muslims and they had all raised their hands in support.

At Mira Road, Kumar had claimed that eating the cow is disrespecting the Quran, and also claimed that cow meat is not good for human consumption, and because of the slaughtering of cows, children don't get milk to drink and hence this ban should be effectively imposed.

Sajid Qureshi of MRM said, "We have started collecting signatures and it will continue for a month now and we will collect signatures from the Muslims affected because of the ban. We will ask the government to rehabilitate the people of the Qureshi community and others affected because of the ban."

There is a possibility that the government, after receiving the signatures, may claim that nearly a lakh people support the beef ban as they are talking about rehabilitation. The government will rehabilitate them if needed, said a BJP leader.