Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar against blanket beef ban?

Commenting on the recent outrage related to beef consumption, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday said that these are matters of "individual opinion". 

When asked about his response of Baba Ramdev's demand on pan India ban on consumption of beef, Parrikar said that it is a sensitive matter and the view on the issue various from one individual to another.

He said, "As an administrator or the government, I cannot take a position to satisfy any one group. It is about individual opinion.”

Parrikar is a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh where the Dadri lynching case took place, said, "Look, if tomorrow vegetarians say that the entire world must go veg, not only will this be inconvenient to others, a time might come when the prices of vegetables will rise so high that even vegetarians won’t be able to afford it, and will have no food to eat.”

Parrikar also said that RSS had nothing to do in the recent communal clashes, "I have been hardcore RSS since childhood, and I can assure you that this had nothing to do with the RSS. We Indians are a very tolerant society, sensitive issues of this nature must be discussed. Violence of any nature by anyone is not acceptable in a democracy."