Eid al Adha is underway in India, and as part of the Muslim holiday's rites, animals are sacrificed to feed the poor. 

Indian Muslim leaders however, have cautioned the faithful to steer clear of cows, and slaughter goats or lamb instead, to prevent mob lynchings by "cow vigilantes" in the name of animal protection. 

Right-wing Hindu groups  have accused some Indian Muslims and Dalits of cattle theft or slaughter. Violence against the latter groups has led to a number of lynchings. 

Why is this a source of conflict in India?

In some Indian states, the slaughter of cows, a sacred animal in Hinduism, is banned, and the consumption of beef restricted. 

This has been the case for many years. But violence has grown as Hindu hardliners and cow vigilante groups have increasingly asserted themselves since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.

Javed Anand, Indian civil rights activist based in Mumbai told TRT World that violence is nothing new, but it was rarer in the past.

“This phenomena of cow vigilantism we are seeing after certain state regularities is something special in the current period of the current regime,” Anand said.

“Muslims are systematically being targeted. This has not happened before.”

Are Muslims the only target?

Muslims are not the only target, but most cow vigilante attacks target them. 

Since 2010, 28 Indians have been killed and 124 others injured in cow-related violence. Twenty-four of the victims were Muslims, IndiaSpend, a data journalism website said in a report.

“I feel afraid. I don't even know if I will be able to reach home safely," Bashruddin Khandawali, a 24-year-old cousin of Junaid Khan, who was killed last week on the train, told Reuters.

How are Muslim communities responding? 

Anand said the Muslim community is trying to keep tensions from bubbling over.

He said Muslim religious leaders from different sects issued a joint appeal asking Muslims not to sacrifice cows, an act which is banned in most parts of the country and to also refrain from slaughtering buffaloes, even though these are not banned.

“They said to sacrifice lambs or goats or camels instead,” Anand said.

Is the violence related to Modi’s Hindu nationalism?

Modi has not openly supported cow vigilantes, but his ascendant Hindu nationalist movement and a government ban on cattle slaughter have encouraged them to carry out a ruthless form of mob justice.

“In the face of these lynch mobs ... killing Muslims, attacking Muslims day to day, Modi, as a top political executive in the country, should be sending very strong message saying this is not rule of law,” Anand said.

Most of the victims who were killed in cow-related violence since 2010 were killed after Modi and his Hindu nationalist party won elections three years ago.

Modi refrained from speaking out on the issue for a long period of time. However, after a 16-year-old Muslim boy Junaid Khan was stabbed to death on a train on suspicion of possessing beef last June, he broke his silence.

“Killing people in the name of a cow is unacceptable. No one has the right to take law into his or her hands. We belong to a land of non-violence. Violence is not the solution to any problem,” Modi said.

Since coming to power, the Prime Minister has found it difficult to balance the competing demands of Hindu right-wing groups – some linked to his party – intent on promoting a Hindu ideology, and promoting development and an image of a modern, secular India befitting its growing economic influence.

How does the ban affect Indian trade?

“Hindus who depend on meat industry are also negatively affected by the ban,” he said.

“India is one of the world’s largest exporters of beef. The large slaughterhouses and the biggest meat-exporting companies were owned by Hindus.”

Exporters argued that the government decree against the beef and leather industry employing millions of workers was aimed at marginalising them.

In July, India’s Supreme Court suspended the government ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter. 

This decision was applauded by the multibillion-dollar beef and leather industries.