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Governor Albert Bryan has issued a proclamation declaring November 25 as “Meatless Day in the Virgin Islands,” a global initiative among the East Indian community that Dada J.P. Vaswani began in 1986, Government House has announced.
According to the release, Mr. Bryan pledged to go meatless on that day in solidarity with the territory’s East Indian community, and he is urging all his fellow Virgin Islanders to join him as the spirit of brotherhood, unity, fellowship and compassion.
“I’m asking all Virgin Islanders to join me in this one-day ‘Pledge to Be Veg’ as a demonstration of unity and harmony for all mankind,” he said. “2020 has been a difficult year for all of us, and it has never been more pressing than now that we all come together.”
Government House said the day is celebrated on the birthday of Sadhu T. L. Vaswani, a noted educator, author and an early supporter of Mahatma Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement who promoted the principle of reverence for all life and is known to people around the world as the living embodiment of unconditional love.
In 1910, Sadhu Vaswani and his guru, Sri Promotholal Sen, sailed from Mumbai to Berlin to participate in the World Congress of Religions. He addressed the conference as a representative of India and expressed a message of peace and tranquility.
Meatless Day was established on Sadhu Vaswani’s birthday in 1986 to honor his philosophy and advocacy of vegetarianism. Across India on November 25, many slaughterhouses close for the day.
