JUST a few days before Eid-ul-Azha (Bakrid), several Muslim organisations are rallying behind the demand made by Maulana Arshad Madani, president of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (Arshad Madani faction), to declare the cow the ‘national animal’. Muslim organisations are hopeful that this move will curb the political exploitation of the issue of cow slaughter, as well as put an end to incidents of mob lynching and other atrocities committed in its name. While many are advocating for the initiatives to build a consensus within the community on this issue, some even intend to meet the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister in this regard.

 

This initiative holds particular significance because, in the country’s most populous state, which also has a substantial Muslim population, such demands have historically tended to originate from Hindu organisations. Raised during this final Eid-ul-Azha preceding the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, this voice emerging from the Muslim community carries its own distinct significance. Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi, National President of the All India Muslim Jamaat, wholeheartedly supported Madani’s demand to designate the cow as the ‘National Animal’. Speaking to PTI, he said that his objective would be to forge a consensus among various Muslim organisations on this matter. To this end, a meeting of key representatives from prominent Muslim organisations will soon be convened in Delhi, where a joint memorandum of demands will be drafted and subsequently submitted to the country’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 

He asserted that the government should fulfil this demand immediately, as doing so would not only bring uniformity to the Government’s policies regarding cow slaughter across the entire nation but would also help eradicate incidents of mob lynching and other acts of oppression perpetrated in the name of cow slaughter. Siraj Qureshi, President of the All India Qureshi Jamaat -- a prominent organisation of the Qureshi community involved in the meat trade -- said that the issue of cow sacrifice has once again become a heated topic in political circles ahead of Eid-ul-Azha (Bakrid), and the unfolding events in West Bengal serve as the latest example of this trend.

 

Openly supporting the demand to declare the cow the national animal, he affirmed that, if necessary, his organisation would seek a meeting with the prime minister in this regard. Qureshi noted that his organisation has long been advocating for the declaration of the cow as the national animal. However, to date, no government has taken any concrete initiative in this direction.