lucknow

Updated: Jan 31, 2019 08:28 IST

The Yogi Adityanath government may consider the demand for making cow a state or national animal —an issue that is all set to find an echo at the ‘Dharm Sansad’.

Giving an indication in this regard over the phone from Hathras, energy minister and state government spokesperson Srikant Sharma said, “The government will consider all the demands and issues raised during the Dharm Sansad at Kumbh.”

“The Yogi Adityanath government is quite serious about the Sanatan traditions which also reflects in its deeds,” he pointed out. Several sections of the society, including some Muslim organisations, have raised this demand from time to time in the past, but this time the seers may unanimously set a new narrative for cow protection by seeking a state or national animal status for it from such a big platform.

Hinting at this, the Lok Parmarth Seva Samiti, a Hindu outfit, on Wednesday said that it had requested Mathura-Vrindavan Malook Peethadhishwarur Rajendra Ji Maharaj and VHP’s cow protection department in charge for UP and Uttarakhand, Hemand Dubey, as well as several other saints to raise the demand for giving the status of ‘rajya mata’ to the cow .

“All of them have given their consent to our appeal,” Samiti spokesman Srish Sharma claimed in a written statement. He said chief minister Yogi Adityanath himself was a staunch ‘gau bhakt’ and if the ‘gau mata’ does not get the status of the ‘rajya mata’ under his regime cow lovers would be disappointed.

He also claimed that unless the cow gets the desired respect in the state and the country, obstacles would continue to come in the way of the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The samiti, he said, had been mounting pressure on the UP government for declaring cow the state animal or ‘rajya mata’ for more than a year. “On December 7, 2017, we had written a letter to all the ministers but no one except Jaya Kumar Jacky acknowledged our letter,” Sharma said.

Sources said the possibility of UP government making the seers’ demand the basis for declaring the cow a state animal or passing a resolution asking the Centre to declare it a national animal could not be ruled out considering the proactive manner in which it is working towards cow protection.

“The demand to declare the cow a national animal is not new as it has been raised from time to time for decades, not only in UP, but in several other states also. The demand, however, gained momentum after the Modi government came to power at the Centre in 2014 and the Yogi became the UP chief minister two years ago,” said an animal husbandry department official. The Rajsthan high court, he pointed out, even passed an order asking the state government to coordinate with the Centre for declaring cow a national animal last year.

In the recent years, Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind chief Maulana, Arshad Madani was probably the first to demand that the cow be declared a national animal in the wake of growing attacks by cow vigilantes.

“Like the peacock, which is a national bird, the cow should also be given the status of a national animal. This will give the cow necessary protection and legal status under the law and put an end to the violence and lynching being carried out by gau rakshaks,” Madni was reported as saying in May last year.