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Bhilai, May 24: “Gaavo Vishwasya Maatrah”, Vedas have termed ‘Cow’ as the mother of this world. Prophet Muhammad has also said that the cow’s milk is health, ghee is medicine and meat is disease. Jesus Christ was born in a barn. Significance of Cow is seen in the life of Lord Ram, Lord Krishna; Sikh Gurus; 24 Tirthankars and all the Avatars; Saints and godly people. Then why this country and world are bearing the sin of cow slaughter. It is the Gau Mata who can save this world from the dreaded diseases like cancer. The excessive use of chemicals in agriculture is the root cause of several incurable and chronic diseases. Use of cow’s urine and dung is the only solution to this problem, asserted Mohammad Faiz Khan, National Convenor of Muslim Rashtriya Manch’s Gau Sewa Cell, while talking exclusively with Central Chronicle on Thursday.
With the aim of reaffirming communal harmony in the nation through Gau Raksha (Protection of Cows), Faiz Khan reached Steel City on the 334th day of his foot-march. He embarked on the 12000 km journey on June 24, 2017 from Leh (J&K) on the occasion of Sindhu Darshan Utsav. Till now, Faiz’s Gau Sewa Sadbhavana Padyatra has covered a distance of almost 5500 kilometres across the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.
In reply to a question, he said that violence for Gau Mata is very unfortunate as cow is the saviour of mankind. Such incidents have been reduced to great extent under the rule of Modi Government. But some off beam powers, those who want to divide the nation in name of religion, give much hype to even the pettiest incidents of violence. Faiz asserted that almost all the incidents of violence that appear in media are politically motivated. He further said that even a simple and common man would lose temper after witnessing cruelty that cattle suffer in hands of the smugglers. In that situation, it is inevitable to protect the smugglers from being thrashed by the Gau Rakshaks. But now with the increased interference of Police, the Gau Rakshaks are avoiding to assault the smugglers.
When asked about the recent incidents of cattle starving to death at Gau Shalas in Durg District, Faiz stated that most stern action should be taken against the people those who make Gau Mata suffer at the aided Gau Shalas. Life of such offenders would remain miserable while they live and even after death. Faiz added that he discussed these unfortunate incidents with Gau Seva Aayog President Visheshwar Patel and has requested him to take strict action against the responsible. Faiz stated that the Gau Seva Aayog should release funds only after conducting sufficient inspection and confirming the Gau Shalas are being operated by honest people.
Faiz expressed concern over the condition of rivers in the country. At the origin point of yatra in Leh, they fetched water of River Sindhu and embarked on the journey with a pledge to collect water from all the rivers they come across and offer the same at Rameshwaram Temple. He stated that as they are collecting water for offering to Lord, it must be clean and fresh. During the initial part of the journey, they found very clean and pure water of Sindhu, Vyas and Satluj rivers. Then they collected very clean water of Yamuna at Paonta Sahib and of River Ganga at Haridwar. But the condition of Ganga was not good at Varanasi and was worst in West Bengal. They faced lot of troubles in collecting fresh and clean water from Kosi, Gandak and Gomti as these rivers also exist in very worrisome condition. Faiz expressed great concern over the sorry state of Shankh, Kelo, Mand and Sheonath rivers of Chhattisgarh. Faiz was highly disappointed to witness the condition of River Kharun, which flows from his home town Raipur. Faiz informed that they had to send a person far away in up-stream of Kharun to collect some fresh water.
In reply to a question regarding experiences of Pad Yatra, Faiz informed that they faced some demoralising situations at some places in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal where they came across some narrow-minded communal fanatics. But the life tales of great saints like Gautam Buddha, Lord Mahavir and Adi Shankaracharya gave strength and courage for continuing the journey for a noble cause. Faiz further said that they were accorded warm welcome at numerous places in various cities but the experience of Bhilai was very special as the citizens gave him rousing reception at almost every square.
Faiz hails from Raipur and has served as Assistant Professor at the Surajpur Government College. He received his primary education at Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Raipur and perused Master’s degrees in Hindi Literature and Political Science from Durga College, Raipur. After completing MPhil, he worked as faculty of Political Science for two years before getting inspired from a novel “Ek Gai ki Atmakatha”, written by renowned Journalist Girish Pankaj. Lead character of this novel was a Muslim youth who struggled against the fanatics of two religions in the path of Gau Raksha. This novel revolutionised his thoughts and Faiz became a fulltime Gau Sewak.
Faiz informed that with the objective of clearing misconceptions over cow slaughter vis-a-vis Muslims in India, they had organised a Muslim Gaupalak Sammelan in Mevat (Haryana), the region known for cow slaughter. The convention, that saw participation of over 10000 people engaged in cattle rearing, was a grand success as several village panchayats adopted resolution for completely banning cow slaughter and sale of beef. Pressing the demand of imposing complete ban on cow slaughter, Faiz had conducted Anshan for 22 days in the year 2013. He consumed cow’s milk only for 51 days to prove that it is complete food. Faiz also wrote a book titled “Gai aur Islam” and now he is conducting 12000 km pad-yatra for bringing mass awareness.
