India Wants Citizens to Replace Valentine's Day with Cow Hug Day
- Sky News
VIVA – A campaign was created by the Indian government to hug cows instead of Valentine's Day that’s from western culture. India wants to people celebrate cow hug day than Valentine’s Day.
In a statement from the Animal Welfare Board of India said that “hugging cows will bring emotional richness and increase individual and collective happiness,” As known, cow has included animals sacred in the Hindu tradition, the majority religion in India.
“Replacing Valentine’s Day with a new holiday will help counteract the fascination of western civilization that has made India’s physical culture and heritage almost forgotten,” the statement said.
This appeal, however, is widely thought to be a transparent push to promote the government's Hindu nationalist values. Many on social media mocked the unusual statement as seeming like a parody or joke.
While the board did not explicitly say their reasons, the government quickly backtracked, withdrawing the call for a "Cow Hug Day".
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a political analyst, said the "Cow Hug Day" was "absolutely crazy, defying logic. The decision to revoke the government's appeal to prevent Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) politics from being derided faced strong criticism from all quarters," Mukhopadhyay added.
While Valentine's Day has become increasingly popular in the country in recent years, Hindu nationalists see the holiday as morally "corrupting".
Valentine's Day celebrations have increased in India, as has anti-Valentine's Day rhetoric that often "targets women, claiming the holiday encourages promiscuity and vulgar behavior by women." According to the Guardian site.
Recently, there has also been so-called "cow vigilante" groups made up of Hindu nationalists who threaten and attack Muslim farmers in the country who own cattle.
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