Gujarat Dalit activist sends 25 kg plastic "responsible" for cow slaughter to chief minister, insists, punish the guilty

Plastic from cow womb for Gujarat CM on display
at Surendranagar district collector's office

By A Representative
Gujarat's grassroots Dalit rights activist Natubhai Parmar -- who created a flutter by dumping a tractor full of dead cows in front of Surendranagar district office in 2016 following cow vigilantes beating up Dalits belonging to the Rohit community in Una on July 11, 2016 on suspicion of cow slaughter -- has stunned the state administration yet again. Now he has sent across 25 kg of plastic recovered from the womb of a cow to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani to tell him: Plastics are the main cause of cow slaughter.
The cow vigilantes tied up four Dalit boys on an SUV with a chain, and paraded them for about a kilometre up to a local police station, caning them up all the way. The boys were beaten up on suspicion cow slaughter, even as their plea that they were skinning a dead cow, their hereditary occupation, was ignored. After a video went viral showing the incident, protests broken out across Gujarat, with Rohits pledging they would not skin cows any more.
Parmar, an activist with Navsarjan Trust, Gujarat's biggest Dalit rights organization, took this opportunity to tell the administration that Rohits were being forced to do this caste-based occupation, of skinning cows, and would not do it any more because of repeated harassment by the administration and vigilantes, which blamed them for slaughtering cows.

The cow protection exhibition

A year ago, on May 10, 2017, Parmar led a Dalit rally in Surendranagar, highlighting that cows dead because the ate plastic. A tractor carrying tens of kilos of plastic taken out of dead cows' womb accompanied the rally, insisting, those responsible for failing to take care of cows, setting them free as stray cattle, forcing them to eat leftovers on roadsides mixed with plastic, should be held responsible for cow slaughter.
Marking the first anniversary of the rally, on Friday, Parmar organized another rally, taking a 25 kg box, plastic taken out from a dead cow after skinning the animal, to be hands over to the chief minister. The box and a memorandum addressed to the chief minister were given to the district collector, who was told, even though the government claims to revere it as a holy animal, it does not take its proper care.
He told Counterview, "I was told I wouldn't be able to hand over the plastic to the chief minister, who is visiting here for a function. So we decided to hand over this to the district collector, meant as a gift to the chief minister."

Memorandum and plastic being handed over
to district collector

The 12-point memorandum, a copy of which he gave to Counterview, said, the main reason why cows die is because of the state policy which led to disappearance of grazing land across Gujarat. While cow sheds or panjrapols were being closed down, the existing ones do not take care of unproductive cows, hence the animal is forced to go astray, eating whatever it gets on streets, including food mixed with plastics.
The memorandum to the chief minister said, "The government should x-ray dead cows to find out the reason of their death. If plastic is found, the responsibility of setting the cows go astray should be fixed, and those found guilty should be tried under the the state's law which seeks to punish those slaughtering cow."
The memorandum demands taking back grazing land handed over to industrialists, setting up special fodder ration shops for cows, setting up of special veterinary hospital in each Gujarat district by operating upon live cows and taking out out plastic from their womb, a complete ban on plastics, and so on.
Parmar's move follows a unique permanent exhibition on cow protection he has organized on the road leading to Wadhvan town off Ahmedabad-Gandhidham highway. The exhibit is an installation of sorts highlighted by a cow prototype with its stomach exposed, intestines choked with plastic. At the exhibit, swathes of blood and fluid are soaked in plastic, removed by kilos from dead bovines during cow skinning, all of it hung on bamboo rods.

Comments

US-China truce temporary, larger trade war between two economies to continue

By Prabir Purkayastha The Trump-Xi meeting in Busan, South Korea on 30 October 2025 may have brought about a temporary relief in the US-China trade war. But unless we see the fine print of the agreement, it is difficult to assess whether this is a temporary truce or the beginning of a real rapprochement between the two nations. The jury is still out on that one and we will wait for a better understanding of what has really been achieved in Busan.

When growth shrinks people: Capitalism and the biological decline of the U.S. population

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* Critically acclaimed Hungarian-American economic historian and distinguished scholar of economic anthropometric history, Prof. John Komlos (Professor Emeritus, University of Munich), who pioneered the study of the history of human height and weight, has published an article titled “The Decline in the Physical Stature of the U.S. Population Parallels the Diminution in the Rate of Increase in Life Expectancy” on October 31, 2025, in the forthcoming issue of Social Science & Medicine (SSM) – Population Health, Volume 32, December 2025. The findings of the article present a damning critique of the barbaric nature of capitalism and its detrimental impact on human health, highlighting that the average height of Americans began to decline during the era of free-market capitalism. The study draws on an analysis of 17 surveys from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (...

Mergers and privatisation: The Finance Minister’s misguided banking agenda

By Thomas Franco The Finance Minister has once again revived talk of merging two or three large public sector banks to make them globally competitive. Reports also suggest that the government is considering appointing Managing Directors in public sector banks from the private sector. Both moves would strike at the heart of India’s public banking system . Privatisation undermines the constitutional vision of social and economic justice, and such steps could lead to irreversible damage.

Political misfires in Bihar: Reasons behind the Opposition's self-inflicted defeat

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The Bihar Vidhansabha Election 2025 verdict is out. I maintained deliberate silence about the growing tribe of “social media” experts and their opinions. Lately, these do not fascinate me. Anyone forming an opinion solely on the basis of these “experts” lives in a fool’s paradise. I do not watch them, nor do I follow them on Twitter. I stayed away partly because I was not certain of a MahaGathbandhan victory, even though I wanted it. But my personal preference is not the issue here. The parties disappointed.

Shrinking settlements, fading schools: The Tibetan exile crisis in India

By Tseten Lhundup* Since the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, the Tibetan exile community in Dharamsala has established the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) as the guardian of Tibetan culture and identity. Once admired for its democratic governance , educational system , and religious vitality , the exile community now faces an alarming demographic and institutional decline.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Search This Blog