India urges citizens to embrace cows for Valentine's Day

In a statement, India's Animal Peace Board said pet hug would bring “emotional wealth and increase individual and collective happiness”.

The devout Hindus, who worship cows as sacred, say that the Western holiday conflicts with traditional Indian values.

In recent years, extreme - right Hindu groups have raided shops in cities, burned letters and gifts, and expelled couples holding hands in restaurants and parks, claiming that Valentine's Day promotes promiscuity.

Groups such as Shiv Sena and Bayang It turns out that such actions pave the way for Hindu identity.

Educated Indian youths, regardless of their religion, usually spend the holiday filling parks and restaurants, exchanging presents and celebrating holidays like any other Indian festival, especially since India began the economic liberalisation process in the early 1990s.

The Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed a Hindu agenda, seeking the primacy of religion at the expense of a secular nation known for its diversity.

Hindus make up nearly 80 percent of the nearly 1.4 billion people in India. Muslims make up 14 percent, while Christians, as they did, Buddhists and nymatins make up the majority of the remaining 6 percent.

The cow has long been embedded in the Hindu psychic and is highly respected by many people like someone's mother. Most countries in India have banned cow slaughter. Report AlJazeera, broadcast the Clankosova.tv.

According to India Spend, at least 45 people were killed by Hindu cow alert groups in the country between 2012 and 2018.

The animal welfare board's appeal requires people to come out and physically embrace cows on February 14.