Nawab Malik seeks resignation of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar for his comments on beef.
Opposition parties NCP and Samajwadi Party came down heavily against Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s comments on beef. According to them, Khattar is indulging in divisive politics and targeting the minority community. They said that Khattar has no right to continue as the Chief Minister of the state. In an interview published with a reputed English daily Khattar had said that Muslim community can live in India but must give up eating beef as it doesn’t violate their faith but that the cow is an ‘article of faith’ for Hindus. The NCP has appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee to intervene in the matter and ensure his ouster.
“Hindustan does not belong to Khattar alone. The way it belongs to him, it belongs to every Muslim of the country. With these comments, he has broken the oath taken by him before taking over as the Chief Minister in which he said that he will treat everybody equal,” said NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik.
It seems that the CM was speaking the language of a Sangh Pracharak, he added.
Malik alleged that during Khattar’s tenure, attacks on churches in the state and atrocities on the minority community have escalated.
“Riots are happening in Muslim villages, churches are being attacked and atrocities on Dalits are increasing. The situation is such that Dalits now want to convert to escape these atrocities. Khattar should immediately resign from the CM’s post. If that doesn’t happen then Prime Minister Narendra Modi should ask him to resign,” he said.
“We appeal to the President to intervene in this matter as life of minorities and Dalits is horrible in Haryana which is dangerous for the country,” Malik said.
The BJP distanced itself from the comments made by Khattar and said that the comments made by him are his own and the party doesn’t endorse it.
“The views expressed by Khattar are not that of the party. I will talk to him and will advise him. It is wrong to say like that,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said.
“This is not the BJP’s position…. It is not correct to link eating habits to religion. People have to keep in mind the sentiments of others and eating is a personal choice of people,” he said.
Naidu said no civilized person will support the killing of anyone for his eating habits and termed the Dadri incident as “highly condemnable”. The Prime Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah have also expressed their disapproval of the incident.
He alleged that there was a “systematic and malicious campaign” to derail government’s and Prime Minister’s focus on development and growth of the country.
“There is a systematic and malicious campaign against the BJP-led government to divert its focus from development and to derail Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts of making India develop and progress further,” he said.
Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Azam Khan targeted BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre saying that Muslims ‘are not the citizens of democratic India but the victims of saffron India’.
Commenting on Khattar’s statement, Khan said, “Clearly this is not a nation that is governed by the Constitution. These comments are always created for targeting the Muslims.”
