Muslims should demand ban on sale of beef to promote communal harmony: Shahnawaz Hussain

Kicking up another controversy, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain on Saturday asked Muslims to demand ban on sale of beef in their states to "promote communal harmony".

"Decisions are taken by the government based on public sentiments. Each government wants that public sentiments should not be hurt. The Maharashtra government too has banned the sale of beef after taking public sentiments into account," Hussain told reporters here. "Muslims from other states should take cue from the Maharashtra government's decisions and come forward to demand ban on the sale of beef in their respective states. This will promote communal harmony," he said.

When asked about his colleague Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's comments on sending the beef-eaters to Pakistan, Shahnawaz said, "Our intention is not to hurt anybody's sentiments. We don't have any right to send anybody to Pakistan and nobody is going to do that even if we ask them to. Moreover, we are not going to do that (ask those who eat beef to go to Pakistan).

Maharashtra government's decision (to ban beef in the state) is to bring communal harmony. Our eating habits should be the same". The decision to extend ban on cow slaughter to bulls and bullocks in the state has invited a strident opposition from the BJP's allies like the Republican Party of India (RPI) led by Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athawale who have been demanding an immediate revocation of the order in the interest of people.