NP: Times of India: Gyanendra's kin leads campaign against animal sacrifice

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Gyanendra's kin leads campaign against animal sacrifice

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Gyanendras-kin-leads-campaig\

n-against-animal-sacrifice/articleshow/5186491.cms

TNN 1 November 2009, 07:23pm

 

KATHMANDU: Five years ago, when he enjoyed unbridled power and was planning

to stage an army-backed coup to become the head of the government, Nepal’s

king Gyanendra attended the festival of Hindu goddess Gadhimai in southern

Nepal, throwing his weight, as the world’s Hindu emperor, behind an orgy of

animal and bird sacrifices.

 

Today, with his crown abolished and Nepal declared a secular state, the

former king’s kin is spearheading a passionate campaign to prevent animal

sacrifices in the Terai temple.

 

“I stopped animal sacrifices at my parents’ house when I was eight,” says

Pramada Shah nee Rana, whose grandfather Nir Shumsher Rana was a field

marshall of the Nepal Army. “When I was married to Ashish Shah, King

Gyanendra’s nephew, I realised animal sacrifices were deeply rooted in the

family tradition. However, I have put an end to that too.”

 

Now her animal rights organisation Animal Welfare Network Nepal has grouped

with animal activists in Nepal, India, France and the UK to begin a public

campaign against the Gadhimai Temple fair starting from Nov 24, when the

temple authorities say at least 500,000 birds and beasts will be

slaughtered. The fair is held every five years when Hindu devotees from

Jndia and Nepal gather to slaughter birds and animals for two days.

 

“The government must take immediate action to address the grave health risks

of the mass sacrifice including bird and swine flu, TB and food poisoning,”

Shah said. “If such mass sacrifices are still allowed in Nepal in the 21st

century, it will send out the message to the world that we are still a

barbaric nation.”

 

In 2002, a year after he ascended the throne following the assassination of

his elder brother King Birendra, King Gyanendra had visited India where

animal rights activists protested against his offering panchabali – five

sacrifices – at the Kamakshya temple in Assam

 

Shah, who was educated in Delhi’s Army Public School and studied in Mumbai’s

Sophiya College for two years, says her inspiration is former Indian

minister and animal rights campaigner Maneka Gandhi.

 

Gandhi has already written to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, urging him

to prevent the wanton killings. “Many people in Nepal and the subcontinent

are concerned about this sacrifice,” she wrote. “Your government has taken

so many humane steps – banning the export of monkeys, for instance. Since

you have introduced the Meat Act, which makes the humane killing of animals

mandatory, these acts during the Gadhimai Festival would be illegal.”

 

Shah is hoping that Gandhi will come to Nepal since a visit by her would

give greater momentum to the campaign. “We are not against the Hindu

religion,” she said. “We are against its perversions. No religion says that

animals have to be sacrificed to appease god.”

 

At home, the campaign against the mass animal killings has been boosted by

Nepal’s Buddha Boy Ram Bahadur Bomjan taking up cudgels on its behalf.

Bomjan, who stunned the world five years ago when he was reported to be

meditating without taking food or water, is asking the temple management as

well as pilgrims and the district administration not to spill innocent blood

in the birthplace of the Buddha, the apostle of peace.

 

“The campaign is producing results,” said D B Bomjan, a prominent member of

the Buddhist Tamang community to which the Buddha Boy belongs. “Three

villagers have already handed over three buffalos to us, which were intended

for sacrifice at the fair, saying they have had a change of heart.”