Several organisations among Muslims are demanding that the cow, considered sacred by large sections of Hindus, be given the status of India's national animal. The current national animal is the tiger. The cow has no such official status for now, but demand for it has historically come from Hindu nationalist groups and BJP legislators.A labourer walks past a cow with his cart at a market in the old quarters of Delhi. (Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters Photo)The Muslim section's push has come ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, the festival during which the sacrifice of animals, including goats and cows, is traditionally observed. Maulana Arshad Madani, president of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind's faction named afer himself, made the demand that he said he had even made at an All-Faith Conference in Mumbai in 2014, that the cow be declared national animal, and that strict legal provisions be enacted against its slaughter and trade.‘Can help end mob lynching incidents’Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi, national president of an outfits called the All India Muslim Jamaat, told news agency PTI that he plans to convene a meeting of Muslim organisation representatives in Delhi to draft a joint memorandum for submission to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.He said the declaration would bring uniformity to cow slaughter laws across the country and help end mob lynching incidents carried out in the name of cow protection.Siraj Qureshi, president of the All India Qureshi Jamaat, whose members are traditionally involved in the meat trade, said his organisation was willing to seek a meeting with the PM on the matter.Maulana Yasoob Abbas of the All India Shia Personal Law Board said the government's approach to cow protection should be consistent across all states, rather than selective.Recently in West Bengal where the BJP came to power this month, there has been a demand that cows over a certain age only be permitted to be slaughtered, in line with some existing laws.Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said the cow should be declared the national animal out of respect for Hindu religious sentiment.BJP's demand, traditionallyThe demand for declaring the cow the national animal is not new, and it has come from within the BJP mainly. Protecting the cow has been a stated part of the BJP's agenda, with the party's 2014 manifesto pledging to protect the animal as part of preserving India's cultural heritage, in line with a long-standing campaign by its parent body RSS for stricter legislation against cow slaughter.But criticism from Muslim leaders and opposition parties remains that the BJP's stance on beef is inconsistent. While the party has introduced strict cow slaughter bans in several states, particularly in northern and central India, it has taken a more permissive approach in Goa and some northeastern states including Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tripura.Critics, including opposition politicians, have pointed out that under the BJP government, India has emerged as a leading exporter of beef, with BJP governments in most states of the country.Kausar Hayat Khan of the Indian Union Muslim League, who supports the national animal demand, noted that beef continues to be consumed freely in BJP-governed Goa, Assam, and the northeastern states, while the party takes a strict line in UP and Uttarakhand. He said a single national law would remove this inconsistency.Now, the demand is being raised in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, about a year before the 2027 state assembly elections; and is coming from Muslim organisations.