Representative image of a cow.
Credit: iStock Photo
Mahakumbh Nagar (UP): A seer has given the Centre a 33-day ultimatum to decide on banning cow slaughter and threatened to take a "tough decision" after March 17.
Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth in Uttarakhand, on Tuesday gave the Centre 33 days to decide on banning cow slaughter in the country and declaring cow as "Rashtra Mata".
Speaking to reporters at Shankaracharya Camp in Sector 19 here, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said, "It is mentioned in the scriptures that 33 crore gods and goddesses reside in the body of a cow. We have been running a movement to declare the cow as 'Rashtra Mata' for the last one-and-a-half years.
"Now we have decided that from the next day of Maghi Purnima (Thursday), we will take out a 33-day-long yatra," the seer said.
He said this 33-day journey would be completed by going to Delhi on March 17.
"The central government has 33 days to take a decision. If it does not take any decision in these 33 days, then we will take a tough decision after 5 pm on 17 March," Swami Avimukteshwaranand said.
"Our demand from the government is that cow should be removed from the category of animal and declared as 'Rashtra Mata' and cow slaughter should be considered a crime. The state government is going to include the cow in the school curriculum. But even there, if the cow is called an animal, then what is the benefit of it?" he said.