Part of the International conference on Maharashtra in September 2021 - Devkumar Ahire, SPPU, Pune
In the colonial state many things were created, constructed and formed. This is why complex social realities appear to have come into shape in the colonial situations. The complex relationship between the 'civil rights' given by the state of the law and the 'religious freedom' inherited from the colonial complex seems to have solidified the Communalism. Due to print capitalism, education system and nationalism, 'traditionalism' took shape in the framework of modernity. It combines religion and politics. All of these changes can be systematically understood through the Cow protection movement. Cow and cow slaughtering has been one of the most shocking aspects of Colonial Indian politics. This question came under British rule as the greatest threat to the country's peace. Because cow slaughtering was a religious right for all Muslims and for Hindus, religious freedom was at stake. The question of cows intensified due to the confusion of the laws of the princely states, customary practices and the confusion of British laws. In the pre-colonial period, the cow appears to have been used as a political instrument of the ruling class. But during the colonial period when the cow protection movement started, the cow became the instrument of mass political mobilization. At that time, the cow became the instrument of mass political mobilization. As a result of this, On the occasion of the cow protection movement, communalism was swiftly promoted and the transmission of communalism went from city to village as well as from elite class to the Subaltern mass. Nagpur in the Marathi region has been called the heart of this movement. It had its own printing press and full-time male- female activist campaigning for the spread of the movement. Through free books, cultural events, leaflets, leaflets, the movement is expanded and penetrated in various fields. The focus of research paper will be on Cow protection movement of Maharashtra so references of Marathi newspapers, biographies, autobiographies, magazines and other sources will be used.
