14 February 2022 marks the day of the third anniversary of the cowardly Pulwama terror attack when 40 soldiers were killed after a suicide bomber rammed an IED-laden vehicle into the CRPF convoy carrying them. Pakistan-based terror out Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed responsibility for the attack.
The terror attack took place on 14 February 2019 in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir when a CRPF convoy of 78 buses, carrying more than 2,500 personnel, was travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley. A 22-year-old suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar, a Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist, crashed an explosive-laden vehicle into one of the buses in convoy, killing 40 soldiers.
Tellingly, the Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist even shot a video of himself justifying his act before carrying out the suicide attack against CRPF personnel. In the video released following the attack, Adil Ahmad Dhar referred to Indians as “Gaay ka Peshab Peene Wale(People who drink cow urine)”. Boasting about the terror attacks carried out by Jaish-e-Muhammad, Adil said those who committed such acts got Hoors in the afterlife and insisted that he would be in heaven by the time this video is released to the public.
On the third anniversary of the gruesome Pulwama terror attack, it is worth dwelling how the language used by the Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist continues to animate the public discourse, thanks to co-option by left-leaning liberals.
For years now, Islamists and terrorists have often referred to Hindus as ‘cow urine drinkers’ or used ‘gau mutra’ jibes to derisively mock and insult them. However, the Pulwama terrorist attack was a watershed moment, given that the attack led to the death of 40 CRPF soldiers and a video released in its aftermath saw the terrorist responsible for the ghastly attack spewing venom against Hindus and who sought to justify this hate by derogatorily referring to Hindus as ‘cow urine’ drinkers.
If anything, the appalling stereotyping of Hindus by an Islamic terrorist who killed 40 Indian soldiers should have discouraged left-liberals from using ‘gau mutra’ jibe. But its usage increased significantly as the gau mutra barbs entered into the common parlance of the left-leaning liberal intelligentsia, members of which feel no qualms to ape terrorists in mocking and insulting Hindus.
Politicians, Journalists, Writers, media organisations partake in normalising the use of ‘gau mutra’ jibes
A raft of liberals has been using ‘gau mutra’ jibes as a means to demean Hindus and belittle concerns raised by them. Not just intellectuals, whose ideology converges with that of Islamists, but more shockingly, even Members of Parliament and leaders of political parties show no remorse in ridiculing Hindus or those who are perceived to champion the rights of Hindus with gau mutra barbs.
Recently, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, a toast of the liberal firmament, unapologetically used ‘gau mutra’ jibe in her tweet to attack the BJP government. Warning BJP about her upcoming speech in the parliament, Moitra asked the members of the saffron party to drink ‘gau mutra’ shots to prepare themselves for her Lok Sabha address.
However, this was not the first time that Mahua was exposed for her contempt towards Hindus even before. She is known for frequently using ‘gau mutra’ swipe to take a dig at her opponents, even though Islamic terrorists routinely use it against their Hindu victims. Last year, she kicked up a controversy by calling India the ‘Susu Potty Republic’. Then too, she had used the cow urine jibe to attack the central government, which the opposition parties, including the TMC, accuse of favouring Hindus.
A day after Mahua’s recent tweet, DMK MP Senthilkumar went a step ahead and made the ‘gau mutra’ jibe on the floor of the Parliament. In his speech on the Motion of Thanks to the President, the leader said if the Centre wants to implement the National Education Policy, it should do it in their ‘gau mutra’ states. The ‘gau mutra’ states referred to states ruled by the BJP. For a country with almost 80 per cent of its population being Hindu, having one of its legislators using the Hindumisic language was incredibly appalling, more so because they came in the house of democracy.
Besides politicians, journalists and left-leaning ‘intellectuals’ too have felt no compunction in stereotyping Hindus as ‘cow unrine’ drinkers by using the language of Islamic terrorists. Saurabh Shukla, a journalist with NDTV, a news organisation known for its anti-Hindu inclinations, toed the line of Pulwama terrorists to mock the Uttar Pradesh government and hurt the sentiments of Hindus. In a conversation on Twitter, Shukla made a ‘gau mutra’ jibe to mock the Uttar Pradesh government and hurt the sentiments of Hindus.
So did writer Ravinder Singh during his conversation with the Wire journalist Rohini Singh who is currently doubling as Samajwadi Party cheerleader amidst the ongoing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Mocking coronavirus vaccine at a time when the pandemic was spreading its ugly and menacing claws, Ravinder wondered why Indians needed vaccines when we have ‘gau mutra’.
And not just individuals, but even media organisations have had their share of purveying anti-Hindu hatred. For a long time, leftist online rag The Quint whitewashed the nefarious crimes of terrorists, but last year it transitioned to emulating them when it spoke the language of terrorists by making a ‘gau mutra’ jibe. On 15 August 2021, it published a cartoon in which a few men were portrayed as hankering after ‘gau mutra’ as they waited beside a cow for her urine.
The uncanny similarity between mainstreaming of ‘gau mutra’ jibes and the “hooked nose” stereotype of the Jews
This shameful mainstreaming of ‘gau mutra’ jibes for Hindus holds uncanny similarity with the “hooked nose” stereotype that Jews were subjected to in the 12th-13th century but its damaging consequences became apparent only in the early part of the 20th century, when supporters of Hitler used those archaic typecasts to inflame public sentiments against the Jews.
In the late 1930s, as Hitler was consolidating his hold in Germany, his Nazi associates were busy amping up hatred against Jews. One of the powerful means they employed to demonise Jews was caricaturing them with grotesque features, especially with large nose so as to stir up a sense of disgust and revulsion against them. This hostile stereotyping whipped up antisemitic sentiments among the masses and undeniably contributed to their alienation and subsequent atrocities perpetrated against them.
Something akin to what preceded the Holocaust in Germany is currently underway in India where anti-Hindu bigotry has reached such frightening levels that journalists, self-described intellectuals, and even news organisations do not flinch from using the language of the Pulwama terrorist. ‘Gau Mutra’ barbs are routinely thrown around not only to mock the BJP but also to burnish one’s ‘secular’ credentials.
Stereotyping of Hindus as ‘cow urine’ drinkers speaks to nefarious designs of establishing Islamic hegemony in India
The apathy and lack of concern among people to the mainstreaming of ‘gau mutra’ jibes holds ominous portent for the Hindus, who are already maligned as intolerant, bigoted, majoritarian, anti-minority, besides concerted attacks being launched against the very edifice of their faith. It highlights that far from eschewing and expressing unequivocal condemnation of barbs being used against Hindus, the left intelligentsia actively and enthusiastically partakes in promoting and speaking the language of the terrorists.
When they use ‘gau mutra’ jibes to ridicule Hindus or the BJP supporters, they are effectively endorsing the beliefs held by Islamic terrorists who are animated by supremacist notions and who consider non-believers and apostates as fair game in their pursuit to establish a homogenous society based on the Islamic Sharia. For Islamists, terrorists and their supporters in the Left, there is only one faith that is worth following while all other faiths are mere impediments in their larger objective of establishing a global Muslim ummah.
It is to this end that Hindus are ceaselessly vilified, severely criticised and incessantly derided, which includes being pejoratively referred to as ‘cow urine drinkers’, so that when the opportunity arises, the Islamists can embark on their longstanding goal of Islamising India by tapping into these stereotypes and seeking moral justifications in their attacks against Hindus.
