‘Buffalo sacrificed for Big B’

[Guest guest]

The Asian Age

 

Link: www.asianage.com (refer to INDIA)

 

`Buffalo sacrificed for Big B'

- By Manoj Anand

 

 

 

Guwahati, Dec. 10: If some fans of superstar Amitabh Bachchan are

performing pujas for his recovery, some political activists are being

more creative.

 

Kishore Samritai, who claims to be the vice-president of the

Samajwadi Party in Madhya Pradesh, on Saturday sacrificed two

buffaloes at the Kamakhya temple in Assam, one for Amitabh Bachchan

and the other for Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Mr Samritai, who had called mediapersons himself, said that he

sacrificed one buffalo for Bachchan's early recovery while another to

pray that Mr Yadav becomes Prime Minister of the country. He also

claimed that he was performing the ritual with the consent of senior

SP leader Amar Singh. The ritual has generated a lot of criticism

among animal activists of the state.

 

Besides local animal activists, chief functionary of People for the

Ethical Treatment of Animal (Peta) Anuradha Sawhney has also

expressed her deep anguish over the sacrifice and said: " I am sure

this has been done without the consent of Amitabh Bachchan. He is an

animal-loving vegetarian. " She asserted: " If he comes to know about

this I am sure he would also be resenting it. " Talking to this

newspaper over telephone from Mumbai she said: " We are writing a

letter to Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi requesting to ban the

animal sacrifices in Assam also. " She argued that many states have

banned this ritual of animal sacrifice. " We are hopeful that he would

take measures to check such inhuman acts in his state, " said

Anuradha, who admitted that some people might have been carrying out

such sacrifices to draw media attention.

 

She was of view that the media should not approve of such

things. " Sati in Rajasthan was also a traditional ritual but people

succeeded in stopping it, " she said.