Subramanian Swamy Faces Protest at California “Cow Culture” Conference in Northern California

Protestors claim “Swamy is Hindutva in a cow mask,” call conference an “RSS program”

SAN FRANCISCO, California, USA—On May 20, Indian immigrant communities from throughout California gathered to protest a “Cow Culture” conference at the India Community Center in Milpitas, CA which featured Indian Member of Parliament Subramanian Swamy.

“We welcome all cow lovers,” announced the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign (OSSC), which organized the conference. “Join use for an engaging Cow Culture Conference for Global Auspiciousness in service to our universal mother, Sri Surabhi.” The name “Surabhi” refers to the idea of a “divine mother cow.” The conference called people to “adopt our universal mother.”

Protestors who gathered outside the India Community Center claimed that “cow culture” is being used a political tool to coerce minorities. “Dalit and Muslim people stand here with our Bahujan brothers and sisters saying ‘enough is enough with this violence,’” declared Thenmozhi Soundararajan at the protest. Soundararajan, who is President of Ambedkar Association of North American, led the group of approximately 40 protestors in chants of “No more lynchings, no more rapes, Hindutva is a culture of hate.”

Mulnivasi Protest of California "Cow Culture" Conference
Watch this video on YouTube.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reports that the BJP embraces “an ideology of Hindutva, which holds non-Hindus as foreign to India.” The BJP achieved national power in India in 2014, with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. In 2017, Swamy praised Modi’s work with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organization of the BJP, stating, “If you peel off his exterior, it is all Hindutva.” Explaining the BJP’s victory, Swamy said, “We articulated this Hindutva — of uniting the Hindus and dividing the minorities.”

Inside the conference, Swamy praised the benefits of cows. “Milk, urine, the gobar — excreta — is converted into fertilizer, pesticide, as well as bricks for building huts,” said Swamy. “So here is an animal which gives you everything. Why is that you want this to be killed?” He said people do not have the right to eat what they want, stating, “In India, there is no such thing as an absolute fundamental rights to anything.” Demanding that India pass a national law criminalizing cow slaughter, he added, “Anyone killing a cow should be prosecuted for murder.”

Outside, protestors chanted, “Cow culture has got to go. Cow culture is hatred.” They displayed signs and banners, including one featuring a photo of Mohammed Ikhlaq underneath the tagline, “Hindutva cow culture lynches.” Ikhlaq was a Muslim who was dragged from his home in Uttar Pradesh on the night of September 28, 2015 and beaten to death on suspicion of possessing beef. Citing a 2017 report by IndiaSpend, a public interest journalism website, the banner also stated, “Since 2010, 97% lynchings by ‘cow protectors’ happened after Modi’s 2014 victory.”

Expressing concern that “Hindu Sharia law” is coming to the United States, several protestors took to a bullhorn to deliver short speeches. “We love India,” said Zafar Haq. Speaking on behalf of the Indian American Muslim Council, he continued, “India is our country. We cannot let Hindutva claim their share and say that, ‘We will drive you out.’ They cannot tell us that the cow is a deciding factor for life and death for so many Muslims. Just yesterday, in Madhya Pradesh, an innocent Muslim man was lynched and killed for allegations that he had beef in his house.”

“Subramanian Swamy is the big culprit who is behind the policy of killing Muslims, killing minorities, and he’s coming here to demand more killing of the minorities,” warned Jaswant Singh Hothi of Milpitas Gurdwara. “We are here to send him a message that we will not put up with what he is doing. Cow culture is a culture of rape, it’s a culture of hate, and we will not put up with this. We pledge to galvanize the Sikh Sangat of the Bay Area against this Hindutva.”

Sandeep Singh of Turlock Gurdwara called the conference “an RSS program,” adding, “Cow culture is against American values of liberty and equality.” He joined in chants of “RSS, go away.” Other slogans raised by the protestors included “RSS out of America,” “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Hindutva has got to go,” and “Hindutva out of India.”

Inside the conference, leaders of Hindu Swayamevak Sangh (HSS) — the international affiliate of the RSS — took the podium before Swamy gave his keynote speech. “Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak at the cow conference which is so needed, especially in a country like the US,” said Ajay Singhal. Sanjay Tripathi, assuring the conference that HSS stands ready to provide “whatever is needed,” claimed, “The god came to serve cow.”

Meanwhile, a few conference attendees stepped outside to engage protestors.

One large white man dressed as a swami walked up to the protest, saying, “My friends.” He quickly turned to anger, however, and began screaming, “One cow is equal to a thousand humans.” As he was escorted away by fellow conference attendees, protestor Bhajan Singh remarked, “This is the cow culture.” Singh continued, “You saw his violent attitude. If this is the cow culture that is coming in America, where they’re going to come and attack you like that, it’s a scary thought for all of us.”

"One cow is equal to 1000 humans" — Hindutva at Cow Culture Conference
Watch this video on YouTube.

Narayan Higgins, manager of Hawaii-based Krishna Cow Sanctuary, briefly engaged in debate with Soundararajan. “If the Hindutvas are as bad as you say they are, they will destroy you for acting like this,” said Higgins. “They actually are killing our people,” replied Soundararajan. They were then joined by Sriramadas Brs, the Continental Coordinator (Asia) of OSSC, who told Higgins, “We need to go.” Higgins replied, “I was just trying to talk with them.” Sriramadas quickly escorted Higgins away. Protestors then began chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Brahmanism’s got to go.”

Delivering remarks from a bullhorn, Singh declared, “They have successfully fooled the world into declaring from the United Nations October 2nd as a Nonviolence Day. They then decided that wasn’t enough. They then said they will declare International Yoga Day, which is now being celebrated all over the world. Guess what’s coming next? International Cow as Our Universal Mother Day…. We do not want the universal cow mother day. I respect my mother. If I called my mother a cow, she would slap me.”

“Subramanian Swamy is Hindutva in a cow mask,” remarked Arvin Valmuci, a spokesperson for Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI). “The Bahujan Mulnivasi people of India are being oppressed and persecuted by Hindu supremacist elements who politicize cow worship and use it as a pretext for violence.”

Laws in 21 of India’s 29 states criminalize the slaughter of cattle to one degree or another. Violence related to cow protection has been a feature of Indian society for a long time, but the country has undergone a massive spike in incidents since 2014. IndiaSpend, which conducted the first statistical analysis of cow-related attacks and lynchings, documented and analyzed all reported incidents since 2010. “Of 63 attacks recorded since 2010, 61 took place under Mr. Modi’s government,” reported IndiaSpend.

Further data analysis reveals several shocking trends. Of 28 people killed, 24 were Muslim. Out of 63 attacks, 32 victims were Muslim, five were Dalit, and one was Christian. In 13 of 63 attacks, police pressed charges against the victims. In 23 of 63 attacks, the attackers were identified as members of Hindu nationalist groups. Of 63 attacks, 32 occurred in states governed by the BJP. Finally, 2017 has seen a 75% increase in attacks versus the same period in 2016.

Commenting in March 2018, Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy accused the BJP of holding a double-standard by only seeking a ban on the slaughter of cows. “If they want to ban, let them ban everywhere and all animals,” said Reddy. He added, “They say that they will ban cow slaughter if they come to power in Karnataka, while our country exports cow meat, beef to other countries. It has been four years since they came to power. Why have they not stopped these exports.”

Groups participating in the protest included OFMI, B. R. Ambedkar Sikh Foundation, American Religious Freedom Coalition, Ambedkar King Study Circle, Indian American Muslim Council, and Ambedkar Association of North America.

35 COMMENTS

  1. Not in favour of any extreme view but should be pointed out that cow slaughter was punished under the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

    • Well of course!! Maharaj Ranjit Singh actually respected other religions and faiths. He was a real man, not an insecure mouse like these hindutva jihadist politicians. Plus, I highly doubt he viewed human life less than a cow’s. (unlike the lunatic in the video screaming a thousand human lives equal to one cow lol. What a clown)

      • Actual the cow was always respected. Banda Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh etc. As I said I do not agree with any extremism and these views and the way this American guy are not good but please do not forget some true facts.

      • Im sorry, but I never said anything about the cow being disrespected in their times. I said Maharaja Ranjit Singh respected other religions and faiths, of which would include cow worship. They also respected and believed in humanity, which was other point I wanted to make. My apologies for the confusion!

  2. China is making relationships with Nepal, Bengla Desh, Shri Lanka & Pakistan, but Indian rulers breaking relationship with its own people. I don’t know how their mother cow will save from China?

  3. Appreciate the move of people against using “cow” as a tool to terrorise original indians by the rulers who are basically Iranians (aryans).

  4. Sikh mullahs like you should be wiped out from the face of the earth . May be my grammar is not good but my intentions are very clear .i know what is good for us and what we have to do

  5. Sikh terrorism can not be allowed in the world . Sikhs is dangerous for world . Philosophy of Sikhi is based on killing innocent Hindus and later said it was done by paid agent . We can not trust these hypocrite Sikhs , they commit crime first and lie . Never acknowledge the crime that is called sikhi

    • Learn to speak english first. Horrible grammar. Hahahah. You are obviously an uneducated hindu terrorist who believes in lynching anybody that is not a bhramin. You are such a hindu isis and terrorist, that you kill your own hindus just because they were born poor. That is really messed up. What kind of people do that? Why do your type of hindus believe in killing your own hindus??

    • Those were government agents paid to raise false flags in order to commit genocide on the Sikh nation.

      I agree with you though. Who did kill those innocent hindus(wasn’t a thousand)? The perpetrators were never arrested and tried in court. We need answers. Why were the police so hush hush when it came to finding the real culprits? Whoever commits murder should be put inthe hands of justice. This includes those murderers. Because if we get answers to that, then more information will come out for who killed thousands and thousands of innocent Sikhs, many of whom were young teens and also included killing entire families and raping the women and little children. Keep in mind, thousands and thousands or innocent dead bodies were never allowed to be identified and handed over to their remaining families. They were secretly cremated by the government to hide the genocide in progress.

  6. And making false accuses against us will not change the truth . Hindutva is oldest religion in the world who believe in inclusiveness.

    • You wouldn’t understand the play on words. Its a term in the english language. Sorry, I am human, not a cow lol.
      And besides, what kind of name is harish? You get high on hashish? and eat cheeseburgers?

  7. Why does this website not include all my comments? But it allows all the flith being spewed by an agent called harish besharma. Im beginning to think this website is being used to bait sikhs for malicious intent.

  8. The reason for bashing of Hindus from so called Sikh intellectuals is that because they know Sikhs came out of Hindus .and if they don’t criticize them and do their bashing all the time , how they gona create hatred for Hindus and if they don’t do that . They are afraid most of Sikhs can become Hindus again . So it is their compulsion to bash Hindus

  9. Mr Sharma do you know who were the biggest cow meat eaters of ancient India were Brahmans. Now you are blaming the minorities for protesting against this bigot.

    • The correct website you are looking for is HINDU24.COM

      Again, this is a wesbite called SIKH24. Totally different religion bro. Sikhs believe in humanity, not cowmanity.

    • Boo hoo hoo.
      Slave people with slave mentality ruling over a republic of over 30 different amd distinct nations.

    • Again mr besharma, this website is called SIKH24. The website you are looking for is HINDU24. Your feelings were hurt?? Awww poor baby. I’m sure that committing murder and raping little kids will make you better again like it always does for your disgusting bhramin mind.

    • Hey hey ho ho. hindu terrorism has to go

      It’s a known fact that hindu terrorism is on the rise in a big way. There UN reports all over it. Hindu terrorists like harish sharma need to gathered up like a herd of cows.

  10. Who were the biggest cow meat eaters in ancient India . They were Brahmans. This cow protection is all bigotry to suppress minorities. I am glad to see the minorities getting together and protesting against this bigot. As far Mr Sharma is concerned he has no sense of any history ancient or present. Thousands and thousands of Muslims thrown out of Myanmar, butchered women raped, and are dying of hunger in and at border of Bangla Desh. Khalsa aid is working along with other humanitarian society working to reduce the misery these people are suffering. Sikhs believe in human rights and will never condone killing of anyone irrespective of their religious belief’s. Go read whose rights Guru Teg Bahauder ji protected.

  11. You guys has vicious agenda against Hindus. 100 hindus butchered by Muslims in Myanmar . But you don’t even publish a single news . Even fake news against Hindus you published 20 times , Falange be eh Kiha te Falane ne eh kiha . You all are hypocrites . Humanity naal Tuhada door door tak koi Lena dena nahi

    • What does that have to do with protesting an RSS program promoting charging people with murder for eating cattle? Your comment is a complete non-sequitur. It has nothing to do with the article.

  12. Does any one knows which community was the biggest cow eater in ancient India. It was the Brahmans.It is nice to see the minorities getting together against these biggots of all time

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