Eating a personal habit, no one can force it: Kiren Rijiju on beef

NEW DELHI: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju today said he had never challenged anybody on eating of beef but only stated that eating was a personal habit and no one can force anybody on this issue.

The minister's clarification came in the Lok Sabha after YSR Congress member Varaprasad Rao said that Rijiju had reportedly stated that he had every right to eat beef and had challenged anyone from stopping him.

Rijiju said he had not challenged anyone and a wrong impression was created "as if I have gone out of the way and made a challenge that come and stop me" from eating beef.

"I just made a statement in front of the civil society in Mizoram which is a dominated by one particular community. I said that eating is a personal habit and nobody will come and force you at what to eat and what not to eat," he said.

He also said that Rao should not speak conclusively in the House by charging BJP members of being behind the Dadri lynching incident,saying one should wait for the report first.

"He (Rao) made a statement about Dadri. He cannot make a conclusive remark that BJP members are involved here till the report comes," Rijiju said.

Rao later said he was not speaking his views but what had been reported in the media.

On beef eating issue, Rao said "for centuries people have eaten of their own choice. No government, however, has... the right to tinker with the Constitution's basic structure."

Later, Rijiju attracted attention to the point raised by Congress member Shashi Tharoor who said India's image abroad has been tarnished by acts of intolerance in the country.

"The image of intolerance is being perceived outside the country. But if you look within the country there is no such atmosphere. By sending such image we are hurting the image of our country. We should rise above party lines and try to better India's image," Rijiju said.

He accused Congress of creating an atmosphere by trying to show that the Government has failed even before its five year mandate has ended.

Rijiju drew parallels between the alleged intolerance now and the imposition of Emergency in 1975 when the rights of civil society, judiciary was curtailed as well as the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

He said when people turned refugees within the country like the Kashmiri Pandits, such situation is also counted as acts of intolerance. "In past 17 months, there has been no instances of any community turning refugee within the country," he said.

Without naming P Chidambaram, Rijiju said after 27 years a senior Congress leader has said banning of Salman Rushdie's book 'The Satanic Verses' was wrong. "It shows it was an intolerant act. Now you are caught in a dilemma. Your veteran party colleague has punctured party's stand," he said.