BJP’s Goa ally, Congress protest VHP beef ban call

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar

A day after a VHP functionary called for a ban on beef in Goa, BJP ally Goa Forward Party (GFP) as well as opposition parties asked the Manohar Parrikar government to ensure that the state’s communal harmony is not disturbed. On Sunday, VHP’s Acharya Radha Krishna Manori called for a ban on beef consumption in Goa. Stating that he did not need the state government’s help in converting Goans’ food habits, he said the Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini will “awaken the Goans” the way they have been doing in the rest of the country. Manori was speaking at a VHP event on Ram Mandir.

On Monday, GFP leader Vijai Sardesai spoke to Parrikar over phone and sought a ban on “leaders who make careless and polarising statements” from entering the state. “Individual liberty is not a state subject. The Constitution protects a citizen on his food habits and no politician can dictate terms,” Sardesai told The Indian Express. “We already have a law which states cow slaughter is banned in the state.”

He said the CM agreed with him. “I spoke to him as a minister of his Cabinet… This state’s harmony is 50 years old and is hard-earned. Any such leader making such statements is not welcome here,” Sardesai said.

Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro asked the government if there was any “hidden agenda” behind such statements. Faleiro said that the bigger threat is the periodic repetition of such “communal threats”. “The VHP is one of the frontal organisations of BJP. Is there a bigger hidden agenda to polarise the people of Goa on communal lines?” AAP, too, asked the government to bar leaders who create communal hatred. There is already a law banning cow slaughter in Goa.