A day after advising those "dying" to eat beef to leave for Pakistan, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Friday sought to defend his stand saying faith of millions should not be hurt over choice of eating.
A day after advising those "dying" to eat beef to leave for Pakistan, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Friday sought to defend his stand saying faith of millions should not be hurt over choice of eating.
"This is not a matter of controversy. If one talks about cows, definately crores of people revere it, they worship it and call it 'Gomata'. I am a Muslim and in my locality if somebody says that I will sell pork, I will not say anything but all the Muslims in that locality will throw him out.
"In Islam, pork is prohibited. That is why it should not be sold or even seen. How can one think that when such a large section has faith for cow and worships it, you expect to cut it in front of them and a legal suit is given to it...one has to think about this issue," Naqvi said.
He was speaking at #Modi365, a conclave organised by news channel CNN-IBN to mark a year of BJP government in office.
Naqvi had sparked a row on Thursday by saying, "If a certain section (of people) is dying because they can't sell or eat beef then this is not the country for them. Let them go to Pakistan or an Arab nation, or any other part of world where it is available."
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, today disapproved of his remark saying people should be aware of their responsibilities. Jaitley also insisted that such comments would have no impact on the government or its policies.
Naqvi told CNN-IBN that India runs on a federal structure and state governments based on the sentiments and demands of people decide on "which things to ban and which things not to ban".
Asked about the opposition to the ban in states like Maharashtra, Naqvi said there are people who oppose anything and everything.
"Nobody is opposing. There are some people who think that one should oppose everything. People say business has been affected. I say those whose business is affected, send them to us (government), we will give them other business...they can sell vegetables," he said.
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