New Delhi: Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepinder, who is a Member of Parliament, on Wednesday criticised the the state’s Health Minister Anil Vij for his statement that those eating beef should not think of stepping into the state of Haryana.
Vij today stroked a fresh row, saying those who cannot live without eating beef should not visit the state where a stringent cow protection law is in place.
“There are some countries we don’t visit because food and drinking habits there don’t suit us. Likewise, those people who can’t live without eating beef should not come to Haryana,” Vij said.
He was asked to comment if the state government had contemplated issuing licenses and or special permits to foreigners to consume beef in the state.
Vij said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had yesterday clarified the issue and ruled out any plan to issue such licenses and give relaxation to foreigners to consume beef in the state.
Vij had last year pitched for declaring cow as the national animal and launched an online poll on the issue.
“The Haryana Chief Minister has done a U-turn from his earlier statement. The act has been passed in the assembly. The whole assembly is unanimous on the Cow Protection Act. I belong to the Arya Samaj. I am also against cow or beef eating. The Bharatiya Janata Party has no stable policy. They will say something and do something. It never practices what it preaches,” Bhupender Hooda told ANI.
His son and Congress spokesperson Deepender Hooda said, “There is a widespread discontent against the government. In order to divert people’s attention from the failure, it is taking these kinds of issues. It would be better if it focuses on Haryana’s development.”
However, a day after Khattar was quoted as saying that he was open to relax the beef ban for foreigners in the state, his OSD stated that the Chief Minister had said any such move can be possible only if there’s a provision in the cow protection Act, passed by the Assembly last year.
“There is a ban on liquor in Gujarat, but there is a special permission under which foreigners can consume alcohol. Likewise, the CM was asked whether there would be any special permission under which foreigners could eat beef in the state, to which he replied that people of Haryana do not eat beef and are against cow slaughter. But, he said, if there was any provision in the Act, it was possible; otherwise it wasn’t,” Jawahar Yadav, OSD to the Chief Minister, told ANI. (ANI)