Gavasthya Yatra: Cow Protection Rally Turns Political as Politicians Take Charge

Ghazipur: The'Gavasthya Yatra'started by Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati with the noble objective of protecting cows has now been transformed from a pure religious path into a political arena. According to reports of the first seven days of this 81-day yatra, which started on 2nd May, political heads have been more active than cow devotees in the groundwork of planning. In districts like Gorakhpur, Kushinagar and Deoria, it has been seen that local leaders of Samajwadi Party and Congress have taken over all the responsibilities from gathering crowds to the welcome ceremony, while on the other hand, the spontaneous participation of the general public has been very limited. At various stages of the yatra, former minister Radheshyam Singh in Kushinagar and Murli Manohar Jaiswal of SP and Vashisht Goswami of Congress in Deoria took the lead. In Ballia, political influence was seen, where former SP president Sanjay Upadhyay and influential leader "Neeraj Singh" directed the Rath Yatra network in Gorakhpur.