Aged Indian ’saint’ fasts for holy cow

Press, 24 April 1979, Page 8

Aged Indian ’saint’ fasts for holy cow

NZPA-Reuter New Delhij Beef-eating feasts were! held in the southern state of: Kerala in protest against thej fast-to-death of an 84-year-old Indian ascetic, Vinobai Bhave, for a total ban on! the slaughter of cows. Bhave, who wants Kerala and West Bengal to join other Indian states in banning cow slaughter, started his fast at his ashram (hermitage) in the western state! of Maharashtra on Sunday. Near the Kerala town of Cochin about 150 people cooked and ate beef, which is almost totally avoided by the majority of Hindus who regard the cow as holy, but] is enjoyed by Muslim and] Christian minorities.

In various parts of the country, however, groups have begun fasts in sympathy with Bhave, revered by many Indians as a saint. In Calcutta, capital of West Bengal state, 74 people were arrested after staging demonstrations outside two slaughterhouses. But West Bengal’s Communist Chief Minister (Mr Jyoti Basu) called cow slaughter an unnecessary issue and said that if it was]

| totally banned a scientific [way of animal husbandry jwould not be possible. Mr Basu said in a leaflet (distributed in the state that ■he had appealed to Bhave ;not to create fresh problems in West Bepgal, which has been hit by severe power shortages and the aftermath of last year’s disastrous floods. In Srinagar, Kashmir, the Indian Horne Minister (Mr H. M. Patel) described Bhave’s fast as unfortunate. He said rhe ascetic had lost much respect due to his silence at the ecesses committed during the 1975 emer[genev rule of former Prime [Minister, Mrs Indiara Gandhi.