Many of the rioters were behind bars. Yet, they remained dedicated to their cause. Our actions are not new. Cow protection is not new. It has been in existence since the Vedic period. Not just in India, even in the Arctic. When the last ice age hit earth and the inhabitants of the Arctic were famine-struck, they debated extensively about the killing of cows. They tried to reinterpret the Vedas. ‘What if the cow is frozen?’ one hungry fellow argued. Swami Satyanand said, ‘No. Eat me instead.’ They prostrated themselves at his feet. Since then a ban on killing cows has existed in the Arctic. Here, we have Mother Earth that is fertile, Mother Ganga that is perennial, Vrindavan that is evergreen, nothing is frozen, and yet there are villains hungry for her blood.

The cow protectors joined forces with the nationalists who declared that there was nothing more important to them than protecting the holy cow. Now, the nationalists had washed their hands of this issue. Not one of them turned up to see how the cow protectors were coping in jail, let alone to organize a protest against their unlawful arrest. Meanwhile, the government had appointed an inquiry committee.

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The British Chewing Gum Company paid for a full-page message in three English newspapers:

. . . The British Chewing Gum Company India Ltd (henceforth referred to as BCGCIL) is an Indian company registered in Bombay (Registration No 124323). The holding company, British Chewing Gum Company UK Ltd (henceforth referred to as BCGC), is not responsible for the acts, conduct, omissions or any lapses of judgment attributed directly or indirectly to the employees of BCGCIL. BCGC does not endorse the decision regarding the propaganda used by the employees of the BCGCIL. BCGC confirms that the chewing gum supplied by BCGC does not contain any cow products and adheres to the highest British standards suitable for all her Majesty’s subjects . . .’

The British Chewing Gum Company, UK

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The riots that ensued at Wellington Circle are the fruits of the divide-and-rule policy brought in no small measure by the meddlesomeness of the Anglo-Indian officials in our affairs. Now, British companies have joined hands with the officials to create mischief. If unchecked they will one day bring ruin to the most marvellous episode in human history—the British Empire in India.

We should blame the disloyal writers of the upper class who use every opportunity to set the hearts of Indians against the Europeans, and the Hindus against the Mohammedans.

Letters from Indian patriots in a leading Bengali newspaper

Does the government believe that Colaba is a farm? Macbeth . . . Duncan . . . Chamberlains . . . the unworthy successors of Elphinstone, Munro, Bentinck, Canning, are destroying the halo of the glory of British rule. That Warren Hastings was not spared is . . .’

Editor at a leading English newspaper in Bombay