LONDON, ENGLAND, July 26, 2007: Jay Lakhani, head of the Vivekananda Centre UK, writes: “Shambo the bull will be led away for slaughter later on today. I was interviewed by BBC Radio Wales and BBC Asianet for my opinion on the issue. The rhetoric from the Hindu leadership that “Life is sacred hence it is sacrilegious to take the life of this bull” is an over-simplistic and naive interpretation of Hinduism. Though the Hindu religion places a great deal of emphasis on the sacredness of all life including animal life, it also warns that such marvelous ideas should only be put into practice after taking into account the context in which we find ourselves. The context in this situation is easy to appreciate: There is a possibility that the life of this one bull may endanger the lives of many other animals as well as humans. As there are no water-tight quarantine arrangements, nor any animal hospitals that can treat such animals in isolation, the only rational option would be to cull this animal. There is nothing in the Hindu religion that would not agree with this sober conclusion.
“Yet, a misguided Hindu leadership saw it fit to turn this issue into a national campaign to save a Hindu bull. Thousands of Hindu youngsters were persuaded to sign a petition to save the bull. Tomorrow all these Hindus will feel seriously let down. They may feel that the establishment has let them down because it is somehow anti-Hindu, which is clearly not true. What has let them down is poor Hindu leadership that chose a simplistic interpretation of the situation and blew it out of all proportion for its own ends. In the process, it did not show the slightest concern that the integrity and credibility of Hinduism was being seriously compromised. Neither has this issue done any favors to community cohesion as thousands of Hindus will resent the outcome. I am of the opinion that it is not the life of a poor animal that should be on the line tomorrow but the credibility of an opportunist Hindu leadership. Hinduism with its pluralistic teachings holds the prescription of how religion can once again become the cohesive force in our society rather than the destructive force religion has turned in to.”