Minister of State (Home Affairs), Kiren Rijiju, came out against his colleague Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s comment when he said that people who eat beef should go to Pakistan. Naqvi, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, had sparked a controversy few days ago by saying, “If a certain section (of people) is dying because they can’t sell or eat beef then this is not the country for them. Let them go to Pakistan or an Arab nation, or any other part of world where it is available.” Finding Naqvi’s statement on beef-eaters ‘unpalatable’, Rijiju said, ” I eat beef, I’m from Arunachal Pradesh, can somebody stop me? So let us not be touchy about someone’s practices,” during a visit tot Aizawl on Tuesday. Rijiju reiterated the point that India is a democratic country with multiple faiths consisting of multi-ethnic people and that tolerance and honouring certain sentiments of the people must be respected.
