Under criticism for Maharashtra's new cow protection law the BJP has denied any overt political motive. They claim the ban was important in the interests of Indian agriculture. The same logic was used to defend tough new cow protection laws in Haryana.
But cow slaughter was already banned in both states. What the Maharashtra law does is ban the slaughter of bullocks, which so far was permitted after the animal was declared unfit for agriculture.
BJP MP from Mumbai Kirit Somaiya who led the campaign to pass the Maharashtra bill, defended the ban on bullock slaughter saying that even infirm animals help the agricultural economy by generating cow dung and urine. "Electricity or pumps are not yet available- we are talking about the bio-electricity," he said, meaning biogas, extracted from dung and other organic waste. Also cattle urine, when mixed with neem, can be an effective pesticide.
But a Standing Committee of Parliament suggests that bio-pesticides only make up 16% of all pesticide use. There is no mention of what proportion of that is composed of waste from cattle.
West Bengal retains the title of the biggest rice producing state in the country. Andhra Pradesh is in third place according to a government report on the value of agricultural output in 2013.
But groups in favour of the ban allege that healthy bullocks, even cows, are secretly slaughtered in abattoirs. "Everybody knows what's happening. They don't go by age or capacity of the animal. Nobody was able to stop it," said Somaiya.
But pro-ban activists also allege that meat exporters secretly slaughter cows, pushing up India's meat export. The Prime Minister even referred to this as the Congress government's "pink revolution" on the campaign trail last year.
Even if there are stray instances of illegal cow or bullock slaughter, there is little evidence to suggest that it as large a scale as the BJP alleges.
The number of bulls, on the other hand, decreased by 16 percent during the same period. But this, said Pathak, is because farmers are moving away from traditional agricultural practices. "I don't agree the population is decreasing due to slaughter. The main reason is that the bull's utility has decreased in the past few years because of the rise in motorised farming," he said.
Moreover, India's status as the world's largest milk producer has not waned. The country increased milk production by 30 per cent between 2006 and 2013. Maharashtra and Haryana - the two states which have toughened beef laws - have also kept pace, growing by 24 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.
"The population of animals has gone up in Maharashtra; cow and buffalo milk production has also gone up. If all of them end up in the slaughterhouse, then who gives milk?" asked Dada Patil.
The claims about illegal, rampant slaughter of cattle seems to be backed more by myth and anecdote rather than any real evidence, which only adds to the perception that political motives more than farmers' interests, may have been driving these laws.
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