‘Be ready for Lucknow march’

Varanasi: Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati has called upon cow devotees across the country to start preparing to reach Lucknow on March 11.The seer said that 20 days of the 40-day ultimatum given to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to prove himself as a ‘real Hindu' were completed on Wednesday, but he gave no signs of being Hindu.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said that a mahant should not work as a full-time salaried employee in any secular position because this is contrary to the dignity of sannyasa. "Therefore, we call upon all akharas, mahamandaleshwars and mahants to come forward and explain these acts with scripture-based arguments. If these acts cannot be proven to be in accordance with scriptures, then why should Yogi Adityanath's actions not be placed in the category of hypocrisy?" he said.He further said that in these 20 days of waiting, govt took symbolic action, such as making the film ‘Godan' tax-free, but remained silent on the main demands: ‘declaring the cow as state mother' and a ‘complete ban on beef export'. Making entertainment tax-free did not protect mother cows. Govt's first duty was to give constitutional respect to the mother cow, not to find solutions on screen.He said that govt, under the guise of ‘Ease of doing business', made Uttar Pradesh the country's largest meat-exporting state. The state's share in India's total meat export is more than 43%. It is clear that the Yogi govt places ‘revenue' from the meat trade above respect for the mother cow.