BENGALURU: The Shepherds India International group has planned to take a delegation of about 200-400 members to participate in the Shepherd’s festival which will be held in Egypt in a couple of months. The members have been discussing the Egypt plans over the past few days. The ancient annual festival is held at select locations along the river Nile.
For starters, the community members will gather at the Shepherds India meeting in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on October 2 for the sixth annual meeting. Union Ministers of State Faggan Singh Kulaste, S P Singh Bhagel, Maharashtra state minister Dattatreya Bharane, Deputy Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly, Jetabhai Bharwad, dozens of MPs, MLAs and MLCs are expected to participate along with community leaders and supporters from across the nation, cutting across party lines.
Shepherds India president MLC A H Vishwanath said, “We started this movement on Gandhi Jayanti six years ago and the reason we chose October 2 was because Mahatma Gandhi called for strengthening rural professions like animal husbandry and sheep rearing as far back as 1942 saying that is the way to strengthen the nation. Although shepherds across the nation follow different religious practices, they are united by a common heritage and Shepherds India is seeking to bring them all together.’’
According to them, there are an estimated 12 crore community members living in different parts of India with different names for the community, and the plan is to bring them all under one banner. From Karnataka, former Congress MLC H M Revanna, JDS MLA Bandeppa Kashempur and other leaders have confirmed their participation. Delhi MLA Mongia, Rajasthan MLA Ratan Dewasi, Telangana MLC Yeggi Malleshu and others too have confirmed participation.