The Big Story: The Dadri quiet

Around this time last year, news was breaking that a man had been lynched in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri district. As the days wore on, we would become familiar with his name, Mohammad Akhlaq, his grave, thin face, staring out of a passport photograph, his alleged crime of killing a calf, eating its meat and storing it in his fridge.



The Dadri lynching, as it came to be known, created a storm of outrage. Writers returned their literary awards, protesting against a government that could not stop the forces of intolerance. In Bihar, an election was lost and won on beef politics. In a matter of weeks, the words associated with the Narendra Modi government changed from "development" and "aspiration" to "polarisation" and "intolerance".

Yet, a few months down the line, there was a strange turn of events. Suddenly, no one was talking about those who broke into Akhlaq's household to bully and murder. Their guilt seemed to depend on his guilt, whether he had actually eaten beef, whether his family had slaughtered a cow. All eyes turned to the meat in the fridge, which had been taken to a lab for testing anyway. In May, a lab report found that the meat had belonged to a "cow or its progeny", and in July, a case of cow slaughter was registered against Mohammad Akhlaq and other members of his family.

Meanwhile, gau rakshaks, or protectors of the cow, suddenly stepped up their activities across the country. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi eventually warned that "80% of gau rakshaks are fake", states like Haryana even contemplated issuing ID cards to separate the real cow protectors from the fake.

Now, the police have reportedly found no evidence of cow slaughter by Akhlaq or his family and are likely to file a closure report. As for the case against those who lynched him that night, it was referred to a fast track court, where it has languished ever since. There have been 18 hearings, eight adjournments, several arrests and a few acquittals. As public interest wanes in the case, it will recede further into the background, and as the accused receive political support, chances of convictions grow bleaker.

But no one is returning awards anymore, no one is howling about intolerance. All our outrage over Dadri, in the end, turned out to be a media-fuelled obsession. Akhlaq's family will have to fend for themselves now. We have moved on.

The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's big story

Dhirendra K Jha reports on the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's backlash to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark that anti-social activities were carried out in the name of cow protection.



Ipsita Chakravarty on how the case against Mohammad Akhlaq and his family signals the return of beef politics before the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Political pickings

Representatives of the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu state governments are set to meet Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Thursday to discuss the Cauvery dispute. United States Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly spoke to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj twice in the last two days, asking India not to escalate tensions with Pakistan. The All Assam Students' Union and 27 other ethnic organisations have warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi against passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which would allow non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh to enter India with greater ease.

Punditry

In the Hindu, Anuradha M Chenoy advises Delhi to rebuild old ties with Moscow, even as Russia prepares to hold joint military exercises with Pakistan. In the Indian Express, Ramachandra Guha on the Indian obsession with Pakistan. In the Telegraph, Saikat Majumdar on how a conservative world order is forcing Western universities to expel the liberal arts.

Giggles

How Animation Artists See Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton https://t.co/iPuDHC9Yln pic.twitter.com/Dx4CoiHfMQ — Cartoon Brew (@cartoonbrew) September 28, 2016

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