印度總理莫迪譴責暴力護牛

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has broken his silence on growing violence by so-called cow defence squads, denouncing the vigilantes as “miscreants” who are tarnishing the idea of cow sewa, or serving cows.

對於所謂護牛隊日益增加的暴力現象，印度總理納倫德拉•莫迪(Narendra Modi)打破了沉默，譴責這些義警是玷污“爲牛服務”(cow sewa)理念的“歹徒”。

Mr Modi’s comments follow a string of violent, sometimes lethal, vigilante and mob attacks on Muslims and low-caste Hindus for transporting cattle, disposing of carcases or eating beef.

莫迪發表這些言論之前，印度曾發生一系列由義警和暴民針對穆斯林及低種姓印度教人士的襲擊事件，其中一些事件導致人員死亡，原因是後者曾運送牛羣、處置死牛或食用牛肉。

“There is absolutely no need for anyone to take the law in his or her hands and disturb the spirit of harmony and togetherness,” Mr Modi tweeted in his first public comment on such attacks.

莫迪在Twitter網站發消息稱：“任何人都絕對沒有必要擅自執法，破壞和諧與團結的精神。”這是他對此類攻擊事件的首次公開言論。

At a public forum a few hours earlier, Mr Modi described those responsible for vigilante attacks in the name of cattle protection as “antisocial elements hiding behind the mask of cow defenders”.

在幾小時前的一個公共論壇上，莫迪曾把這些以護牛名義實施的義警襲擊事件的責任人稱爲“躲在護牛者面具背後的反社會因素”。

Trade in cattle and their carcases has become a fraught issue in India, where cows are traditionally revered by high-caste Hindus as near deities and a symbol of the nation. Lower-caste Hindus, who do most of the work of disposing of cattle carcases, and minorities do not similarly venerate cows or share high-caste Hindus’ strict taboos on eating beef.

在印度，牛在傳統上被高種姓的印度教人士尊崇到了近乎神聖的地步，被他們視爲印度的國家象徵。牛及死牛的買賣已成爲一個棘手的問題。多數處置死牛的工作是由低種姓印度教人士實施的，他們和一些少數民族對牛沒有那麼尊崇，也不像高種姓印度教人士那樣嚴格禁忌食用牛肉。

On the campaign trail two years ago, Mr Modi had publicly denounced India’s large meat trade, which he emotionally described as a “pink revolution” that had to be stopped. Since his election, several states ruled by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party have toughened their laws on bovine slaughter and the possession or consumption of beef. Some are devoting considerable public resources to enforcement and cow welfare programmes.

兩年前，莫迪在競選期間公開譴責印度的大規模肉類交易，煽情地稱之爲必須阻止的“粉色革命”。自當選以來，由他的印度教民族主義政黨人民黨(Bharatiya Janata Party)統治的幾個邦，已收緊了對牛的屠宰、牛肉加工及消費的法律規定。部分邦向相關執法及牛的福利計劃投入大量公共資源。

The febrile climate has also spawned rising vigilantism, with mobs of cow protection squads attacking those suspected of facilitating the beef trade. Fatalities include a Muslim man near Delhi killed on suspicion of eating beef, a Kashmiri truck driver attacked with a petrol bomb for allegedly transporting cattle and two Muslim cattle traders who were lynched in Jharkhand.

這種狂熱氛圍還催生了自發執法現象不斷升溫，多個護牛隊的暴民襲擊了那些涉嫌爲牛肉交易提供便利的人們。其中的致死案例包括，德里附近一名穆斯林男子因涉嫌食用牛肉而被殺，一名克什米爾卡車司機因據稱運送牛肉而遭到汽油彈襲擊，以及兩名穆斯林牛商販在賈坎德邦被私刑處死。