Cow vigilantes who are threatening Modi’s grip on power

There is something quixotic about a nation of 1.3 billion people being convulsed over the slaughter of over-aged cows that would otherwise starve to death, or die horribly after eating plastic from a rubbish bin. But there is nothing farcical about the absolute ban on the slaughter of cows imposed by Narendra Modi’s Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in every state where it has captured power, and its surreptitious use of vigilante groups to enforce it.