Animal Welfare Board of India withdraws appeal to celebrate February 14 as ‘Cow Hug Day’

• Image Credit: Internet

• Feb 10, 2023 | Kabir Chakraborty

The Animal Welfare Board is part of the Animal Husbandry Ministry, which is led by BJP MP Parshottam Rupala.

Digital Desk: Following a deluge of memes on social media, a government body's request that people hug a cow on Valentine's Day has been withdrawn.

The Animal Welfare Board of India backed up its advice on hugging a cow on Valentine's Day with examples like it would bring "emotional richness" and increase "individual and collective happiness" in an appeal on Wednesday.

The Animal Welfare Board is part of the Animal Husbandry Ministry, which is led by BJP MP Parshottam Rupala.

"As directed by the competent authority and the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, the Animal Welfare Board of India's appeal for the celebration of Cow Hug Day on February 14 stands withdrawn," the board's secretary, SK Dutta, said in a statement.

Every year, couples in India celebrating Valentine's Day, which the'moral police' label as a bad western import, face hostility, according to rights activists.

On Valentine's Day, cases of couples being thrashed by groups of men are common, particularly in rural India.

The Animal Welfare Board in its appeal to celebrate "Cow Hug Day" had said Vedic traditions are almost on the "verge of extinction" due to the "progress of West culture" and that the "dazzle of western civilisation has made our physical culture and heritage almost forgotten".