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"This
Government has no regard for the needs of
communities that do not shout," commented
Sudarshan Bhatia, President of the National
Council of Hindu Temples. "Hindu leaders
wrote to the Prime Minister 45 days ago,
and there is not even an acknowledgement.
If this had been some other community, the
Government would have rushed to find a solution.
Just because Hindus are quiet, we are ignored,
isolated and sidelined."
"The
impression we get is that those who shout
the loudest or cause problems get immediate
attention from this Government, while those
who work actively to make community cohesion
a reality get ignored," explained Ishwer
Tailor, President of the Hindu Forum of
Britain. "There has been a catalogue
of issues that we have raised with the Government
and they have ignored our concerns. Of course,
there is a lot of lip-service, tokenistic
meetings and assurances, but very little
practical action follows. Having spoken
to several stakeholders, I know that our
community is becoming increasingly restless
with this Government and wondering whether
it is even worth continuing to engage with
them."
"The
lethargy from this Government is unacceptable,"
said Gauri Dasa, President of Bhaktivedanta
Manor. "A DEFRA minister wrote a letter
to us taking the RSPCA stand and telling
us that we were wrong. Who in their right
mind will believe that the Government is
actually serious about talking to faith
communities when they do not even pick up
the phone to talk to us before writing judgemental
letters like these?"
"Representatives
from scores of Hindu organisations passed
a resolution declaring the failure of the
Government to engage purposefully with Hindus
and asking for immediate dialogue,"
reported Kapil Dudakia, Trustee of the Milton
Keynes Hindu Association and a member of
the Justice for Gangotri Taskforce. "We
hope this Government will sit up, take note,
and stop ignoring our genuine concerns."
Organisations
that have already registered their support
for the resolution are Balaji Mandir Birmingham,
Federation of Brahmin Associations of UK,
Gujarat Hindu Association Leicester, Gujarat
Hindu Society Preston, Hindu Council of
Birmingham, Hindu Council of Brent, Hindu
Council of Harrow, Hindu Council of the
North, Hindu Council UK, Hindu Forum of
Britain, Hindu Forum Walsall, ISKCON Bhaktivedanta
Manor, Leicester Hindu Festival Council,
Lohana Community UK, Milton Keynes Hindu
Association, National Congress of Gujarati
Organisations, National Council of Hindu
Temples, National Hindu Students Forum,
Punjabi Society for British Isles, Sanatan
Mandir Leicester, Shree Hindu Community
Centre Birmingham, Shree Kutch Leva Patel
Community, Shree Prajapati Association UK,
Southall Ram Mandir, Vishwa Hindu Mandir
Southall, Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK and Vishwakarma
Association.
Hindu
leaders had travelled from all over the
country to take part in the ground-breaking
ceremony that included chanting of 10,000
year old Sanskrit prayers, ancient costumes,
traditional dances, and devotional singing
to the accompaniment of Indian drums and
cymbals. It culminated in four simultaneous
yajnas, with priests pouring sanctified
offerings of clarified butter into a large
sacred fire.
Plans
for building Europes largest Cow Protection
Centre, called 'New Gokul' were approved
by Hertsmere Borough Council after numerous
planning applications and a pubic enquiry.
Many councilors had indicated that they
were impressed with the design and the sustainable
character of the proposed farm buildings.
"In
Britain, 3.38 million cows and bulls are
killed every year. Nearly all young bulls
die before they reach their third birthday,"
concluded Gauri Dasa, President of Bhaktivedanta
Manor and Spiritual Commissioner of the
Hindu Forum of Britain. "But at New
Gokul, the new cow protection farm, we will
demonstrate new ways of ethical, compassionate
and sustainable farming."
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