NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 7, 2009: Hindu organizations will soon launch a unique rath yatra to pressure the Indian government to impose a complete ban on cow slaughter. Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, Jagadguru Swami Raghaveshwar Bharati, the Shankaracharya of Gokarna Pitha, Karnataka, said efforts should be made to declare cow a national animal and protect it. “The Congress-led UPA government at the Centre should move in this direction,” he said.
Giving details about the rath yatra, the Shankaracharya said, “We will soon launch a 108-day yatra to push for this ban. The yatra, which will spread the message “Save the cow, save the village,” will be flagged off at Kurukshetra in Haryana on September 28, Vijaya Dashami. It will culminate at Nagpur, Maharashtra, on Makar Sankranti in 2010 after a 20,000 km journey.”
He continued, “Meetings will be held at 400 places across the country. A signature campaign will also be run. We expect to collect around 500 million signatures and submit the document to president Pratibha Patil.”
The Shankaracharya also asked that Hindu organizations be protected from Christian and muslim groups, but did not name any specific measures, saying only that “Hindus are in danger.”