Shillong, Sept 28: The chartered plane of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Shri Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, after being denied landing permission at Shillong Airport on Saturday, symbolically hoisted the cow protection flag at a height of 21,000 feet inside his aircraft while flying over Meghalaya on Saturday.
“We are passing over the skies of Meghalaya, amidst its clouds. As we move through the clouds of Meghalaya, we hoist this ‘Gou Pratishtha’ (cow protection or prestige) flag,” said Shankaracharyaji Maharaj in a video statement.
He explained that they had intended to hoist the cow protection flag on the land of Meghalaya, but were not permitted to even land in the state. Some groups objected to their visit, and the government of Meghalaya, in his view, violated their rights as citizens of India to travel freely across the country and express their views.
“Even in such a situation, it is God’s will that, amidst the clouds of Meghalaya, at a height of about 21,000 feet, today I had the opportunity to hoist the ‘Gou Pratishtha’ flag. I must thank the government of Meghalaya and the groups who objected to our arrival. Although they prevented us from hoisting the flag on the land of Meghalaya, they gave me the opportunity to hoist the flag at such a height, amidst the clouds of Meghalaya. So, all the credit goes to the people who objected to us and the Meghalaya government. I thank all of them,” he said.
At the same time, he appealed to the people of Meghalaya to allow him to visit the state and hear what he has to say. He also expressed his willingness to listen to their perspective, and to find out a way forward that is acceptable to both the sides.
He and his followers were in Agartala on Saturday morning and at the airport he was informed that permission was denied for his “special plane” to land at the Shillong Airport. His followers sent videos of Shankaracharyaji Maharaj arguing with officials at Agartala Airport seeking a written ‘permission denial letter’ from the authorities.
In the video Shankaracharyaji Maharaj was heard saying that the landing permission denial letter is required so that he could take legal action based on it. However, sources said no such letter was given and reluctantly, he proceeded towards Guwahati on his chartered aircraft.
However, when the flight was cruising over the skies of Meghalaya, he made a video first showing the aircraft altimeter of the flight being at 21000 meters with his followers saying he is hoisting the flag over Meghalaya – symbolically.
He further promised to return to Meghalaya in the near future and then discuss his plan to ban cow slaughter and declaring “cow as a mother” throughout the nation.
Shankaracharyaji Maharaj and his followers were denied permission after Meghalaya government wrote to Airport Authority of India (AAI) to prevent him from landing to avoid law and order breakdown as there has been vehement protest against his proposed anti-cow slaughter rally.
Meghalaya is a major beef-eating state. In fact, Meghalaya is one of the highest beef-eating states of the country in which 80 percent of the population eat beef.
The butchers’ association of the state was one of the organisations which protested against the proposed rally stating it was an attack on their livelihood and lifestyle.
Other organisations too joined the protest and were at the airport to pre-empt the rally from taking place. However, there was heavy security deployment in anticipation of breakdown of law and order in the event that Shankaracharyaji Maharaj arrived in the state.
District administrations of both East Khasi Hills and Ri Bhoi have also promulgated section 163 of the BNSS prohibiting holding of such cow protection rallies in the respective districts.
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