Kolkata: Beef party to protest intolerance turns out to be a damp squib

Left-leaning body Bhasha Chetna Samity’s decision to hold a ‘beef party’ in the heart of the city ended in a whimper on Friday.  The organisation’s secretary, Emmanuel Haque, former mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, poet Subodh Sarkar besides others, gathered in front of Statesman House on Chowringhee and raised slogans against the recent controversy over the consumption of beef.  

While the samity had sent out invites for the gathering to many, cutting across party lines, few turned up. The ‘beef party’, which started around 2pm had to be wind up within half an hour with low turnout. People, who had gathered at the venue consumed beef in public and registered their protest against a variety of issues ranging from the killing of a Muslim man in Dadri and Dalit children in Haryana, the murder of Kalburgi to the recent raid at Kerala House. They even treated the locals gathered with beef delicacies for free. 

“Our organisation is a platform for free thinkers. The RSS and other Hindu-nationalist parties are trying to create pressure by preventing people from consuming beef. They have even gone to the extent of imposing a ban on sale and consumption of beef in several parts of the country. Our nation comprises people belonging to several religions and all of them should be respected. No government or a political party can impose a ban on what people would eat,” said Haque.