Mangaluru: An upcoming campaign in Dakshina Kannada aims to collect 10 lakh signatures to demand a total ban on cow slaughter and the official recognition of the cow as ‘Rashtra Mata’.During the district’s Ganeshotsava celebrations, the campaign will begin with volunteers offering prayers and taking a pledge. Signature collection will then take place at special temple counters and through door-to-door visits, according to VHP division secretary and campaign in-charge Shivanand Mendon.He noted that the two-month campaign, organised alongside various Hindu organisations, mutts, and temples, will involve volunteers visiting households across the district to urge the Union government to enact a nationwide ban on cow slaughter. To coordinate the campaign, a 108-member district committee, 21-member committees in each of the nine taluks, and six-member committees at the village level have been formed, he said.“The campaign held at the national level has collected around five crore signatures in the first phase in Feb. Another 16 crore signatures were collected during the second phase which concluded in July. Plans are afoot to collect an additional 30 crore signatures across the country and hold a massive convention in the respective state capitals, followed by submission of memorandum to governors in the third phase,” he said.The signatures collected in Dakshina Kannada will be submitted to the governor on Dec 17. As a final phase of the agitation, saints and seers may undertake an indefinite hunger strike if necessary, he added.
