New Delhi: This year, India’s government is asking citizens to spend Valentine’s Day snuggling up with a cow.
According to the details, Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has issued a notice appealing to people to celebrate “Cow Hug Day” on 14 February, claiming the act would foster “emotional richness” and increase “individual and collective happiness”.
The advisory body described Valentine’s Day as the “dazzle of Western civilization” and said that “Vedic traditions are almost on the verge of extinction due to the progress of Western culture over time.” The welfare board called the cow the “backbone of Indian culture and rural economy”, adding that the animal represents “cattle wealth and biodiversity.”
Meanwhile, the report also quotes a representative of the Dairy Farmers Federation of India as calling out the AWBI for its alleged double standards.
The association official said, “The love they show to cows is just fake. If they really want to support cattle, they must support dairy farmers and compensate for our losses due to lumpy skin disease.” A political analyst, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay said, the appeal is “absolutely crazy and defies logic”. “The unfortunate part is this has now official sanction,” he added.
“This shows an eraser of one more line between the state and religion, which is very depressing. Now the state is doing what political and religious groups have been campaigning to do.” Journalist Aakash Joshi wondered if the government’s stupid deification may also serve an economic function. “Since there’s little sign of India leading the march on new tech, perhaps we can all find gigs as cow hug facilitators or domesticated animal safari guides.”
In recent years, far-right Hindu groups have raided shops in cities, burned cards and gifts, and chased hand-holding couples out of restaurants and parks, saying that Valentine’s Day promotes promiscuity. The Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing a Hindu agenda, seeking supremacy of the religion at the expense of a secular nation known for its diversity.
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