Indian ruling party official urges Muslims to give up eating beef

New Delhi: A Hindu fundamentalist and senior member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has prompted a new storm of protest from liberals and minorities by suggesting Muslims are second-class citizens who should leave the country if they do not abide by Hindu customs.

“Muslims can continue to live in this country, but they will have to give up eating beef,” Manohar Lal Khattar, chief minister of the BJP-run state of Haryana, said in an interview in The Indian Express on Friday.

“They can be Muslim even after they stop eating beef, can’t they? It is written nowhere that Muslims have to eat beef, nor is it written anywhere in Christianity that they have to eat beef.”

Khattar also defended the men who beat to death a Muslim farmer last month on suspicion he had eaten beef at home, comparing their actions to those of someone who sees his mother killed or sister molested, although he added that both sides had been in the wrong.

The comments on Muslims, who make up about 14 per cent of India’s population, are the latest in a series of provocative statements and actions by members and allies of Narendra Modi’s government that have outraged Muslim leaders, liberal Indians and even moderate supporters of the BJP.

“They are doing what they are best at, that is to promote their hate ideology,” said Asaduddin Owaisi, a Muslim member of parliament for Hyderabad, condemning what he called the “mob mentality” of Khattar.

“We are not living here on sufferance. We are living here because we are equal citizens of the country,” he said.

“A chief minister who has taken an oath to defend life and limb ... has the audacity to say if you do not follow [certain] religious habits, you do not live in India.”

Modi himself has said he wants to focus on economic development but was slow to react to the lynching of farmer Mohammad Akhlaq, finally describing it merely as “sad”, leading some opponents to accuse him of turning a blind eye to communalism to help the BJP win Hindu votes in the ongoing state election in Bihar.

As well as extending bans on the slaughter of cows, which are holy to Hindus, the BJP, its Mumbai ally the Shiv Sena party and its ideological parent the right wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have moved in the past 18 months to Hinduise education and culture and attacked nongovernment groups such as the Ford Foundation and Greenpeace.

Khattar, like Modi, a long-standing RSS activist. He had banned the killing of cows in Haryana and made it punishable with a 10-year jail term, although India is among the world’s largest beef exporters.

In Mumbai this week, xenophobic Shiv Sena protesters blackened with ink the face of Sudheendra Kulkarni, a think tank head who was launching a book by a former Pakistani foreign minister. Last week they forced the cancellation of a Mumbai concert by famed Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali.

Outraged by recent murders of rationalist intellectuals, curbs on free speech and the lynching of Akhlaq, 15 Indian writers have protested by returning their awards to the Sahitya Akademi, the national academy of letters.

Arun Jaitley, finance minister and a confidant of Modi, strongly condemned the Akhlaq killing but denied the government was intolerant. He accused the writers of staging “a manufactured revolt” because of their left wing sympathies — a view that fuelled yet more indignation.

“He’s the finance minister, for God’s sake,” said Ramachandra Guha, an Indian historian. “Why should he be attacking writers?”

Guha was highly critical of the Congress government ousted by Modi in the 2014 election but now thinks Modi’s development plans are being overshadowed by the Hinduisation agenda of an emboldened RSS.

“The RSS is now coming out in the open and saying, ‘we control this place’,” said Guha. “It’s very disturbing, and also a sign that he [Modi] is much weaker than people ever thought he would be.”

A political row erupted on Friday over Khattar’s comments with Congress calling it unconstitutional and a “sad day” for India’s democracy.

As the remarks sparked an outrage, BJP dissociated itself from Khattar’s views, calling it “wrong” and asserted this was not the party’s stand while AAP demanded sacking of the Chief Minister.

Khattar on his part sought to do damage control, saying his words have been distorted but he was ready to express regret if he has hurt the sentiments of people.

“My words have been distorted. I never made such a statement. But if the sentiments of anyone have been hurt with my words, I am ready to express my regret,” Khattar said.

The Chief Minister’s Advisor Jawahar Yadav said that Khattar never made such a statement in the interview given to Indian Express.

“The Chief Minister has himself denied that he made such a statement. He did not say what has been published by a newspaper,” he said.

The newspaper later released an audio tape of Khattar’s interview in which he’s heard making the controversial statement.

“Sad day for India’s democracy! CM Khattarji will now decide qualifications for Indian citizenship. Is this new model of governance Modiji?” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked, taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav attacked BJP, saying its leaders keep taunting Muslims and ask them to go to Pakistan but what will they do with people in northeast where beef is eaten?

“They will have to understand that India is not Europe or China. It is a diverse country,” he said.

Another Congress leader Rashid Alvi said Khattar’s comments were unconstitutional and he had no right to continue as the chief minister.

“The views expressed by Khattar are not that of the party. I will talk to him and will advise him. It is wrong to say like that,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, adding that it is not correct to link anyone’s eating habits to religion.