BAREILLY: Bareilly: Uttar Pradesh government has approved a proposal by a spiritual leader, Ramaraju Mahanthi, to promote vegetarianism and meditation in the state. In a letter to all district magistrates, the government has directed them to aid the initiative after Mahanthi claimed that he had run out of resources to carry out his mission.According to Mahanthi, he had written to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on August 20, saying, “My team and I have held 4,000 vegetarian rallies and meditation workshops all over the country and in Bhutan and Nepal . Our target is to hold 1,00,000 such meditation workshops and sessions. I have been in UP since August 2011.”Mahanthi ruefully apprised the CM that he had run out of resources and needs help from the state government to keep his mission alive. “To reach out to the maximum number of people, we need help for travel and food in the form of money or power.”Speaking with TOI, Mahanthi dubbed people consuming non-vegetarian food as “demons”. His aim is to make such people shed their “demon” values. “Through my rallies, I make them aware that only demons eat non-vegetarian food and once they give up such habits, they can embrace positive values.”The spiritual leader said, “With my team, I have been reaching out to people in remote locations, colleges, private institutions, universities, hospitals across UP and have already held meditation workshop and rallies in Lucknow, Kanpur,Varanasi, Allahabad and Rewa (in MP).“Over time, all our resources have been exhausted and our mission is dependent on the money raised by family members, friends and well-wishers. We have now urged the state government to step in and aid us in our initiative,” he said.The state government took due cognizance of the plea and directed district administrations to come forward to support the “noble cause”.Asked how the district administration is planning to aid Mahanthi’s initiative, Bareilly district magistrate Pankaj Yadav said, “Since we have received orders to implement it, we will get in touch with the government for further instructions. The first target will be educational institutes and gatherings.”According to Mahanthi, he had written to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on August 20, saying, “My team and I have held 4,000 vegetarian rallies and meditation workshops all over the country and in Bhutan and Nepal. Our target is to hold 1,00,000 such meditation workshops and sessions. I have been in UP since August 2011.”Mahanthi ruefully apprised the CM that he had run out of resources and needs help from the state government to keep his mission alive. “To reach out to the maximum number of people, we need help for travel and food in the form of money or power.”Speaking with TOI, Mahanthi dubbed people consuming non-vegetarian food as “demons”. His aim is to make such people shed their “demon” values. “Through my rallies, I make them aware that only demons eat non-vegetarian food and once they give up such habits, they can embrace positive values.”The spiritual leader said, “With my team, I have been reaching out to people in remote locations, colleges, private institutions, universities, hospitals across UP and have already held meditation workshop and rallies in Lucknow, Kanpur,Varanasi, Allahabad and Rewa (in MP).“Over time, all our resources have been exhausted and our mission is dependent on the money raised by family members, friends and well-wishers. We have now urged the state government to step in and aid us in our initiative,” he said.The state government took due cognizance of the plea and directed district administrations to come forward to support the “noble cause”.Asked how the district administration is planning to aid Mahanthi’s initiative, Bareilly district magistrate Pankaj Yadav said, “Since we have received orders to implement it, we will get in touch with the government for further instructions. The first target will be educational institutes and gatherings.”