Overview
- Several Muslim organisations have staged local protests, submitted memoranda and planned a joint representation to the prime minister to seek national‑animal status for the cow.
- Former vice‑president Hamid Ansari publicly backed the proposal and appealed to Muslims to avoid slaughtering cows for Eid‑ul‑Azha.
- Jamiat Ulama‑i‑Hind leader Maulana Arshad Madani urged restraint ahead of Eid, advising followers not to sacrifice prohibited animals and not to post slaughter images on social media.
- The Supreme Court refused an urgent hearing of a PIL seeking a nationwide ban on cow slaughter, while Maharashtra has invoked the organised‑crime law MCOCA against cow smuggling, transport and illegal slaughterhouse networks.
- Advocates say the move is mainly symbolic to force a single national policy across a patchwork of state laws and to reduce mob violence, but a formal change would require central legislation and could reshape enforcement and communal tensions.