Daijiworld Media Network—Beltangady (RD/CN)
Beltangady, Aug 21: “A ‘Vishwa Mangala Go Grama Yatra’ of 108 days will be held across the country to create awareness about the importance of cow worship and the need to preserve the indigenous species besides creating confidence among farmers who have threatened to commit suicide”, said Dr D Veerendra Heggade, president, welcome committee, Vishwa Mangala Go Grama Yatra Karnataka, who is also Dharmadikari of Sri Kshetra Manjunateshwara, Dharmasthala.
Dr Heggade was speaking at a press conference held at Sri Kshetra Manjunateshwara Temple, Dharmasthala, here, on Thursday August 20.
“The Yatra will begin from Kurukshetra on Vijaya Dashami and conclude at Nagpur on Makara Sankranti. The Yatra will cover around 20,000 km and public meetings will be held in 400 locations. The Yatra will enter Karnataka on September 30 through Gundlupete and reach Bangalore on November 1. It will be in Tumkur on November 2, Davanagere on November 3, Hubli on November 4, Mandya, Ramanagar, and Mysore on November 7. The volunteers of the Yatra will visit every household ahead of the event to gather signatures for the memorandum that will be submitted to the union government”, Dr Heggade added.
“The ceremonious Yatra will not arrive in the coastal district due to security concerns, and hence a smaller Yatra will be held with the objective of visiting five lac villages. The signatures will be gathered on the memorandum, urging the union government to announce the cow as the national animal and enact laws for the conservation of its indigenous species, to form a separate ministry for conservation of cattle, to strictly implement laws that are passed by the state government, and to stop artificial insemination from western species of cattle and other issues”, he said.
“The Yatra is being promoted by Sri Raghavendra Bharati Swami of Ramachandrapur Math while Dr Pranav Pandyaji of Gayatri Parivar, Sri Baba Ramadev, Sri Vidyasagar of Digambar Jain, Mata Amratanandamayee, Sri Dayanand Saraswati Swami, and other holy persons have conveyed their blessings for the Yatra”, added Dr Heggade.
“The Yatra is being embarked upon to save cattle from slaughter houses which have resulted in dwindling stocks of cattle in the rural villages. It also aims at improving the situation of farmers across the nation through dairy farming as the cow shelters set up in various locations are not in a position to accommodate all the aged and disabled cattle”, Dr Heggade emphasized.
Yatra committee south Karnataka president Vartoor Naryan Reddy, Uttar Karnataka vice-president Dr Ramana Gowda, south India convener Gopal Chettiyar, all India secretary Dr Krishnamurti, Shimoga principal B M Kumaraswamy, RSS All India Seva Pramuk Sitaram Kedlaya, Mangalore RSS convener M B Puranik, Jayaram Bolkaje, and Tama Reddy were present at the press meet.