Featured Image Credits: Northeast Now
In an embarrassing development for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Banendra Kumar Mushahary, the saffron party’s candidate from Assam’s Gauripur constituency, has claimed that beef is the “National Dish” of India.
“How can anyone try to ban beef? It is the National Dish of India,” he said while addressing an election meeting in a Muslim-dominated area.
Mushahary added that beef is an international dish and “educated Muslims in the rural areas of Assam should understand that no one can ban the sale of beef in Assam or anywhere in India.”
Notably, the BJP has always been campaigning for the protection of cattle and a beef ban across the country. Recently, a ban on cow slaughter was promulgated in BJP-ruled Karnataka. Mushahary’s statement greatly contradicts the party’s ideologies and principles.
Mushahary joined the BJP last year
Mushahary, a veteran politician, was first elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly in 1996 as an independent candidate from Gauripur constituency in Dhubri district. In 2011, he was elected as an Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) candidate from Gauripur.
Later, he joined the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) and was elected as an MLA for the third time.
He joined the BJP last year in December.
BJP workers demand apology
Meanwhile, BJP workers in the districts have expressed serious concern on Mushahary’s remarks and demanded that he tender an apology.
Members of Purbanchal Hindu Aikya Mancha filed an FIR at Dispur police station and demanded actions against the BJP candidate for violating the Model Code of Conduct which was enforced in February 26 in poll-bound Assam.
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