Lucknow: Demanding a ‘rashtra mata’ status on cow and a nationwide ban on its slaughter, seer Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati on Wednesday announced an 81-day statewide campaign beginning May 3 for the cause. “Kavishti Yatra, a Vedic term for struggle undertaken for the protection of cows, would start from Gorakhpur on May 3 and conclude there on July 23 after travelling through villages across the state,” the seer said. Addressing a gathering in the capital, the seer said that participants would spread awareness among people about cow protection. The programme, titled ‘Gau Pratishtha Dhwaj Sthapana, Dharm Yudh Shankhnaad Sabha’, was held with permission from local authorities subject to 26 conditions, several of which the seer had earlier described as “impractical”. Avimukteshwaranand asked attendees about their political affiliations, saying media reports suggested that supporters of opposition parties such as the Congress and the Samajwadi Party were backing his campaign. “But when we asked people here, most of them said they support the BJP. This shows how quickly support is shifting and how fast people are moving away,” he said, before adding that the gathering was not meant for political discussion. Referring to cow protection efforts, he said Uttar Pradesh govt had recently allocated its “largest budget” for cow welfare in the state after nine years, which he claimed had come under pressure from the ongoing campaign.
