Yogi effect: Bengaluru's cow protectors to demand ban on meat shops
- Raghaveswara Bharathi, the seer of Ramchandrapura Mutt, is to lead an agitation demanding shutting down of illegal meat shops in Bengaluru.
- According to Gau Samarakshana Prakoshta, 43 percent meat shops in the city have a valid BBMP licence.
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After getting inspired by UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s crusade against illegal meat shops and slaughterhouses, the self-styled cow protectors of Bengaluru are also planning to initiate a movement against illegal meat shops in the city.
A leading daily quoted a gau rakshak as saying that there are about 1700 illegal meat shops in the city and the gau rakshaks are planning to agitate in front of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) headquarters demanding the ban on illegal mutton and chicken shops.
The Times of India reported that this agitation would be led by Raghaveswara Bharathi, the seer of Ramchandrapura Mutt. Recently, Bharathi also led a one-day protest against the opening of a slaughterhouse in Harohalli near Kanakpura. He has brought together a number of gau rakshak organisations in the state to protest against illegal meat shops and slaughterhouses.
One of the gau rakshaks organisations Gau Samarakshana Prakoshta’s Karnataka state convener, Sundraraj Pai, said that the day of the agitation in front of the BBMP headquarters depends on the availability of the Swamiji, the Times of India quoted him. He also stated that a survey conducted by the Prakoshta revealed that only 43 meat shops in the city have a valid BBMP licence.
A spokesperson of the Ramachandrapura Mutt said that it has already appealed to the civic body against the illegal meat shops and the authority to yet to reply to it. Further, he added that the future action depends on the response of BBMP.
The leader of Karnataka Federation of Goshaalas, Gau Rakshak Raghavendra, quoted by the daily as saying that meat shop owners in Uttar Pradesh are voluntarily shutting their shops and that shop owners in Bengaluru should also follow the suit.
Quoting a 1997 High Court order, the gau rakshaks are arguing that meat shops and slaughterhouses were to be shifted to the outskirts of Bengaluru having less population, and that government must honour the court order.
The demand to shut meat shops has also impacted malls in Bengaluru as gau rakshaks have written to eight malls telling them to close the illegal meat shops operating inside their premises, the report claimed. The TOI also stated that one of the malls has already stopped selling beef.
