BJP MP Hukumdev Narayan Yadav hits out at Lalu for beef remarks

PATNA: BJP MP Hukumdev Narayan Yadav today hit out at the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad for his reported remarks that the Hindus too ate beef and described it as an insult to the 'Yaduvanshis' (Yadav castemen) to whom the cow remained a sacred animal.

"Lalu Prasad has committed a crime at social level and insulted the Yaduvanshis by claiming that the Hindus too eat beef," the 75 year-old BJP MP from Madhubani said.

Yadav, a fifth-term Lok Sabha MP and a relative of the RJD supremo, said Prasad should have kept his views about eating beef at personal level as he had every right to eat it and offer it to anybody, but he had no no right to speak for the entire Hindus or his community.

"As far as I am concerned, the Hindus and Yadavs in particular always hold cows as sacred animal and they would prefer to go to hell than consume beef," the veteran BJP leader said.

Charging the RJD supremo with communalising Dadri incident in Uttar Pradesh in which an old man from the minority community was lynched by a mob over beef issue, the senior BJP leader said he was not in favour of politicising sensitive issues as he had been winning from Madhubani parliamentary seat which had a sizable number of Muslims and Yadavs.

Prasad had created a furore yesterday claiming that the Hindus too eat beef, a remark that generated heat in political circles with BJP leaders launching an all out attack on him for hurting the sentiments of the Hindus.

Under mounting criticism, the RJD supremo tried to water down his initial remarks saying that he was of the opinion that eating beef was harmful to one's health as it might cause diseases.