After "moo-ting" the idea, the Government has withdrawn its appeal to celebrate Valentine’s Day in a very "desi" way by hugging a cow.

The Animal Welfare Board of India had issued the plea to hug a cow on February 14, saying the animal forms the backbone of India’s society and economy.

But in a terse notice Friday, it abruptly called off “Hug A Cow Day”.

“As directed by the Competent Authority and Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, the appeal issued by the Animal Welfare Board of India for the celebration of Cow Hug Day on 14th February, 2023 stands withdrawn,” the board’s secretary S. K. Dutta said in a website notice.

The announcement prompted Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh to ask jokingly in a tweet, “Who moo-ted the idea in the first place?”

No reason was given for the decision to pull Cow Hug Day which the animal welfare board had said would boost traditional Indian values and “offset the “dazzle of western civilization” and increase “individual and collective happiness.”

But the announcement Wednesday of the board’s effort to rebrand Valentine’s Day and fete the occasion by cuddling up with cows had led to an explosion of jokes and memes on social media and made headlines around the world

Some questioned whether the cow’s permission had been taken for a hug. “Cow Hug Day, 14th February. Unclear whether bovine consent is required but you'll find out, no doubt,” joked one Twitter user.

A cartoon, showing a cartoon with a man nearby, punned that Valentine’s Day was now: “A special day with your significant udder.”

Another Twitter user wrote a poem in honour of Cow Hug Day: “Roses are red, violets are blue, I lose my head, when I hear you moo.”

A video that went viral showed a BJP leader attempting to touch a cow and the animal reacting violently and kicking out. Yet another meme took inspiration from the famous Titanic poster with Leo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet at the prow of the doomed ship. In the changed version, a man was hugging a cow and the title was changed to Cowtanic.

On Friday, speculating on the reason for the cancellation, one Twitter humourist said it came after “the ministry realised animal husbandry doesn’t mean playing the animal’s husband.”

The “Hug A Cow” initiative had won praise from government ministers who had appealed to citizens to respond positively.

“Since February 14 is a day of love, it is good if people remember and love the cow on that day,” Animal Husbandry Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala said on Thursday.

"This country has an age-old tradition of worshipping the cow and it is a matter of great happiness that people embrace the cow,” he said.

The Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog (RKA), which is part of the Animal Welfare Board and had come up with the Hug A Cow idea, has an unhappy track record of issuing highly publicised programmes which have been withdrawn at the last moment with no reasons given.

In 2021 it had announced an online examination to test people’s knowledge of what it called ‘cow science”.

Around 500,000 people, including people from abroad, joining what the RKA had called the “Indian cattle knowledge fest” had signed up for the exam but it was cancelled at the last moment.

The test was particularly aimed specifically at promoting knowledge about 51 ‘desi’ bovine breeds like the Kasaragod dwarf cow and the Red Kandhari. The RKA is particularly keen to promote desi bovines and is against the import of foreign breeds like the Jersey and the Holstein Friesian.

Extolling the virtue of Indian bovines, the RKA had said that desi cows produced milk with a slightly yellow tinge that even contained traces of gold.

By contrast, it claimed foreign breeds imported from Western countries had been linked to a wide range of diseases including diabetes, heart ailments, schizophrenia and autism. In addition, the RKA opined that Jersey cows were lazy and not “emotive”.

The RKA was formed in 2019 as an advisory body to help the Central Government to “develop appropriate programmes for conservation, sustainable development and genetic upgradation of indigenous breeds of cows.”