The manch, whose members owe allegiance to the Bajrang Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), termed the forest department's proposed action as an attack on Hindu culture.

For some years now, the forest department has been rounding up snake charmers who traditionally went around displaying cobras on Nagpanchmi for alms. The snake charmers are usually let off with a warning.

The department began taking action after animal rights groups pointed out that the cobras were de-fanged and their poison sacs removed before they were used for display, which amounted to torture as well as commercial exploitation of a species covered under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

State president of the Sanskriti Bachao Manch, Chandrashekhar Tiwari, who is a former district convener of the Bajrang Dal said that if the forest department took action against snake charmers, his organisation would launch an agitation against the department.

'The snake charmers usually keep the snake only for a day and release it in the forests after Nagpanchmi,' he added.

Senior forest officials, however, said the absence of fangs in the snake renders it incapable of hunting its prey, eating and it eventually dies.

Chief conservator of forests, Bhopal, A.K. Bhattacharya said that action would be taken against snake charmers who display cobras on Nagpanchmi. He said a decision has been taken to prevent commercial display of snakes and violators would be booked under the Wildlife Protection Act.