People should be allowed to eat beef if they want to: Niti Ayog CEO

New Delhi:Senior bureaucrat Amitabh Kant is of the view that in a democracy like India people should be allowed to eat beef if they want to, asserting there should be a “freedom of choice”.

“Well, I believe we are in a democracy, we should allow people to decide what they want to say, we should allow people to decide what they want to eat,” NDTV quoted Kant as saying.

Asked if that includes eating beef, he shot back, “of course”. There should be freedom of choice. I said it in the context, the fact that I come from Kerala cadre, my neighbour was a Nair, my right hand neighbour was a Brahmin, they all ate beef. We all grew up eating beef in that state. There should be freedom of choice.”

Kant had also earlier said he was personally not in favour of banning beef exports, stating that the government should instead stay out of such areas and act as a catalyst for growth.