Pakistan

Go to Pakistan if you can't live without beef: BJP minister

Earlier in March, the Indian state of Maharashtra banned the possession and sale of beef

Web Desk May 22, 2015

PHOTO: PTI

NEW DELHI: The Indian Minister of State for Parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, stood firmly in support of the ban on cow slaughter in India, saying those who wish to eat beef should go to Pakistan.

"It is not about loss or profit ... it is an issue of faith and belief. It is a sensitive issue for the Hindus," Naqvi said at "Manthan" conclave organised by TV channel Aaj Tak. "Those who are dying without eating beef, can go to Pakistan or Arab countries or any other part of world where it is available," he said.

An Indian woman and her cow. PHOTO: AFP

"Even Muslims are against it..." he contended. Naqvi was countered by AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi who asked whether the central government would impose blanket ban on beef across India, especially in states like Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala where a large number of people eat it.

READ:'Reasonable' restriction on beef does not violate fundamental rights: Maharashtra govt

Battling a beef ban that has threatened their livelihoods, Muslim traders in India are seeking permission to slaughter foreign-origin Jersey cows they think will not be as sacred to the country's majority Hindus as locally bred cattle.

Several states controlled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have either brought new laws banning beef or tightened curbs on killing cattle.

India is the world's largest beef exporter and fifth biggest consumer, with the trade dominated by the minority Muslim community who have protested against the latest restrictions with little success.

The All India Milli Council, a platform for Muslims in the country, now says it supports the beef ban but would like the government to find them alternatives. They hope Jerseys, a dairy cow originally bred in the Channel Island of Jersey, could be an option.

Workers walk through a shed past empty meat hooks during a strike against a ban on the slaughter of bulls and bullocks at an abattoir in Mumbai March 23, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS

"We demand the government to allow us kill Jersey cows, which are of foreign origin and religious sentiments are not attached to them," said M.A. Khalid, general secretary of the council's unit in Maharashtra.

The article originally appeared on The Economic Times

COMMENTS (18)

ask | 9 years ago | Reply @Maxx.: "Muslims in India look to Pakistan with respect..this is another thing that they have to prove its patriotism by giving such churlish statement as this Muslim minister has given." It is precisely because of the patronising attitudes as reflected in the second sentence in the quote that an Indian Muslim would consider the first sentence to be a highly exaggerated overstatement.

Maxx. | 9 years ago | Reply @Tyggar: Exactly this is the reason Sania Mirza married a Pakistani man...out of her community and country. Many of my friends cousins in Hyderabad India has married to Pakistani boys and are now settled in Pakistan. Muslims in India look to Pakistan with respect..this is another thing that they have to prove its patriotism by giving such churlish statement as this Muslim minister has given.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

Pakka Indian | 9 years ago | Reply @Azi: McDonald's does not serve beef in India. They serve chicken, fish and vegetarian varieties. And McDonald's is doing booming business in India, with its franchise restaurants proliferating and multiplying each year. But one advice to Pakistanis who take offense: there are many Pakistanis who eat pork. Would you advise them to go to China where pork is widely sold and every restaurant in China has pork dish varieties.

Adam | 9 years ago | Reply India is the world's largest beef exporter? That should be the headline, ET.

Zahir | 9 years ago | Reply Not Just Pakistan. There is no place like America, Australia, Canada & Europe, if you love stake

Tyggar | 9 years ago | Reply Being asked to go to Pakistan is the biggest insult to any self respecting Muslim across the world

goggi (Lahore) | 9 years ago | Reply The atrocious cruelty of humans to the animals comes right back to them like a fatal curse and misery......with the same (butcher´s) knife they slit each other´s throat.

Point | 9 years ago | Reply Infact what more can you expect from the most racist country in the world . Hinduism the most racist religion that need to be listed and banned as a terrorist group http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/

Blunt | 9 years ago | Reply Dear Mr. Naqvi, First of all issue passport to those 40,000 Kashmiris including Syed Ali Shah Gilani who are desperately trying to get into Pakistan, then invite Indians to come to Pakistan.

someone | 9 years ago | Reply Wow..look at the Pakistani comments. I must say Muslims are the most dual face people on the earth. They are so sensitive about their own religious customs but when it comes to respect other religion, they find it difficult to digest. No wonder world over Muslims are seen with suspicions. They can't assimilate with any other community. They riled up even the most peaceful Buddhist people in Myanmar. Pathetic.

FMS | 9 years ago | Reply It simply doesnt makes any sense! How can they impose ban if India is a world’s largest beef exporter and fifth biggest consumer, with the trade dominated by the minority Muslim community??? Will they impose ban on trade as well? No! Slaughtering cows for World Trade rather largest trade is OK! But there is a problem with the minorities? Simply Non-sense!

Azi | 9 years ago | Reply Tell that to Mcdonalds, Burgerking, Pizza places, and gourmet restaurants who also serve beef. For all you know, these people could be preaching no beef to public and eating a nice warm burger in the privacy of their home.

N.S | 9 years ago | Reply India is a Hindu state??no its a secular country???No its a Hindutva state. You can take your pick. Just inserting a clause in the constitution that India is a secular country and even that in the Indira Gandhi era doesn't make the country secular in letter and spirit...this is pure hogwash. Constitution is developed for the people to accept it, not just as apiece of paper. At least Pakistan is open and clear about its Islamic identity and not calls itself a secular state, India do this to get west patronage, and privileges. How long it can keep on telling India is a secular country and the actions were just opposite to what it preaches. Better declare India a Hindutva state, Obama has rightly pointed out in his recent visit "Religious intolerance in India would have shamed Gandhi jee". How true reflection of India.

Anwar Hayat | 9 years ago | Reply I don't know what's more hilarious. Banning beef or the fact some clown with a Muslim sounding name is defending the beef ban. I'm literally laughing while I read this. Modi has been a blessing for India...he's opening up more wounds in India than the ISI could ever do. (ie. Indian occupied Kashmir, Khalistan, Dalitstan, Maoist Insurgencies, Racism against Chinese Indians, Hindu vs Muslim riots etc.)

Rizwan | 9 years ago | Reply What a sorry state indian muslims are in - having to pander to hindu fanatics in order to be halfheartedly accepted as an indian.

Emad | 9 years ago | Reply If you call yourself a Hindu Republic then you are free to follow laws which go hand in hand with Hinduism but if you call yourself "Secular" then you shouldn't interfere in matters of Faith, at least Pakistan does not lie about what it actually is since we call ourselves an Islamic Republic then we have laws which to the most part go with Islam

W | 9 years ago | Reply What an idiotic statement!

babu | 9 years ago | Reply Just a pathetic slave of Hindutva..

Replying to X