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India Urges People To Ditch ‘Western’ Valentine’s Day, Announces February 14 Is Now Cow Hug Day
- The government’s campaign is supposed to counter the ‘dazzle of Western civilization’
- Hugging the cow ‘will bring emotional richness’ and ‘increase happiness’
India has urged people to ditch ‘Western’ Valentine’s Day and announced that February 14 is now Cow Hug Day.
In a new appeal, the Indian government has declared February 14 Cow Hug Day to embrace the animal, considered holy and sacred within Hinduism, India’s most important religion.
Hugging a cow will ‘bring emotional richness’ and ‘increase our individual and collective happiness’, read a government statement according to The Guardian.
The renaming of February 14 is also intended to counter the “dazzle of Western civilization” that the government fears will come at the expense of older Indian traditions.
Valentine’s Day has become a popular occasion among young people in the last ten years, a trend fueled by intense marketing campaigns for flowers, teddy bears, heart-shaped gifts, and even romantic gestures to surprise Valentine’s Day. .
In a new call, the Indian government has declared February 14 Cow Hug Day to embrace the animal, which is considered holy and sacred within Hinduism, India’s largest religion (pictured: a woman worshiping a cow during the Ganga Dussehra festival in India) )
At the same time, Hindu nationalist politics gained support in India and “Western” holidays, as well as traditions such as Valentine’s Day, have drawn criticism for promoting “corrupted values”.
Shops selling Valentine’s cards and decorations have been occupied by right-wing vigilante groups, who have also attacked couples holding hands.
Those groups often engage in moral surveillance of women, and criticism of Valentine’s Day is no different.
Following his rhetoric, the party encourages female promiscuity and extravagant behavior.
Cow Hug Day is the latest attempt by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reference the ‘sacred’ cow in an all-India policy.
Most Indian states already ban the slaughter of cows, as many consider them sacred, and the sale and consumption of beef is also banned in many places in India, including the capital, Delhi.
This isn’t the first time the cow has been included in a national issue: The National Cow Commission devised a proposed national exam on the topic of ‘cow science; as part of the modified BJP curriculum.
This was postponed to 2021 because he was accused of promoting religious pseudoscience about Indian cows.
These claims include that Indian cows have more emotions than their foreign counterparts, that their humps have magical powers, or that their dung could even prevent radiation, according to The Guardian.