‘Why ban meat when Lord Ram was a non-vegetarian’: NCP Jitendra Awhad’s remark triggers BJP
The Hindu
NCP leader Ahmednagar Jitendra Awhad sparks controversy claiming Lord Ram was a non-vegetarian, BJP MLA Ram Kadam responds.
Jitendra Awhad of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) has sparked a controversy claiming that Lord Ram belonged to the 'Bahujans' (people in majority) and was a non-vegetarian, contrary to common belief.
His statement comes a day after BJP MLA Ram Kadam urged the Maharashtra government for a one-day ban on alcohol and meat on the day of the Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya on January 22.
"Ram is ours. Ram belongs to the Bahujans. Ram who hunts and eats is ours, we belong to the Bahujans. When you people go to make us all vegetarian, we follow the ideals of Ram and today we eat mutton. This is the ideal of Ram. Ram was not a vegetarian, he was a non-vegetarian," Mr. Awhad said while addressing an event in Maharashtra's Shirdi on Wednesday.
"Where would a person living in the forest for 14 years go to find vegetarian food? Is it correct or not (question to the public)? Tell me when I am telling the truth," he said.
Mr. Awhad added, "No matter what someone says, the truth is that we got independence only because of [Mahatma] Gandhi and [Jawaharlal] Nehru. Gandhiji was not assassinated in 1947, but the first attack on him took place in 1935, the second attack took place in 1938, the third attack took place in 1942."
"After all, why did they attack him so many times? He didn't care about time, he didn't even care about the Constitution. But he was attacked because Gandhiji was a tradesman and an OBC. The fact that the leader (Gandhi) of such a big independence movement was an OBC was not acceptable to them (RSS)," he added.
The NCP leader said that Mahatma Gandhi's assassination was rooted in casteism while criticising a lack of historical awareness among the public.
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