The recent comments by Meghalaya animal husbandry and veterinary minister Sanbor Shullai urging people to eat more beef than chicken, mutton or fish has resonated nationally.
The Shiv Sena has slammed the BJP for its “double standard” when on the one hand it acted against people carrying beef in other parts of the country and on the other, its minister in Meghalaya encouraged consumption of beef.
Saamana, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece, in its editorial today said, “Meghalaya’s BJP minister Sanbor Shullai has backed eating beef. So we will not say hang him or call him a traitor. But in the beef matter, BJP should apologise to all those who were lynched to death by mobs and those who were insulted for carrying beef and cases were filed against them.”
The Saamana editorial also said that in the North East states, beef is their staple food and there are no restrictions on the slaughter of cows.
“If someone says that in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and elsewhere, the cow is gaumata (sacred animal) and it is not gaumata but a useful animal in states of Goa, Kerala and North East, then it is hypocritical and shows double-standards. How can the law be changed as per the state?” the editorial said.
The Shiv Sena mouthpiece said if such a statement was made in a non-BJP ruled state, BJP would have gheraoed the minister’s home, demanded his resignation, told him to go to Pakistan and demanded President’s Rule in the state.
It may be mentioned that following the controversy over his comments on the beef issue, Shullai had clarified that his comments have been “highly exaggerated and misunderstood.”
Shullai also clarified that the ‘beef comment’ was made particularly in context to Assam where a “ban on beef created a panic among the indigenous tribal and other communities in the state of Meghalaya, who consume it and consider beef as a staple diet”.
According to him, to eradicate any such fears against the BJP, he wanted to tell the indigenous tribal people in Meghalaya that they will be able to continue to eat more beef without the fear of any item being banned in the State.
