Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Ban on cow slaughter demanded

PHOTO: CH.VIJAYA BHASKAR

We care: A woman, who attended the public meeting organised as part of the Viswamangala Gua Grama Yatra, feeds a cow at Swaraj Maidan in Vijayawada on Friday. —

VIJAYAWADA: The Vishwa Mangala Gou Gram Yatra, which began at Kurukshetra on September 28 with the aim of building pressure across the nation against cow slaughter, arrived in the city on Friday. The yatra’s target is to cover 20,000 kilometres across the length and the breadth of the country to drum up support for the cause of the protection of cow.

The yatra ratham (chariot) arrived at Swaraj Maidan, the venue of a public meeting, amidst slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, “Gou Mata ki jai” and “Vande Mataram”. The dais was crowded with representatives of various religious and spiritual organisations chanting the ‘gou mantra’.

Addressing the meeting, International General Secretary of the Viswa Hindu Parishad Praveen Togadia said that protecting cow was essential to usher in peace, health and wealth.

The Government must bring in legislation with immediate effect against cow slaughter and ensure severe punishment to the law-violators on this count, he demanded.

Mr. Togadia lamented that farmers were allowing their cattle to be shifted to the slaughter house after the animal became a liability.

“Let us all save Re 1 every day and contribute to the ‘save cow’ campaign,” he urged.

He also spoke about the commercial viability of the products generated by cow and said if promoted in a big way among the masses, it could turn an effective way to protect the docile animal from the butcher’s knife.

Mr. Togadia wanted the people at the helm of governance to initiate steps to re-allocate ‘gou chars’ (grazing lands) to prevent extinction of the animal due to fodder scarcity.

Industrialist Gokaraju Ganga Raju said cow must be saved for preservation of culture.

Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu, Congress leader P. Gowtham Reddy, MLC Ilapuram Venkaiah and several other religious saints were present.

The organisers appealed to the visitors to take a look at the ‘Gou Sahityam’ (literature on the sacred animal) made available at the venue.

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