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Indians educated in missionary schools eat beef abroad: Giriraj
PATNA: People educated in missionary schools do not have familiarity with India’s culture and end up eating beef when they go abroad, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union minister Giriraj Singh said on Thursday, triggering a fresh controversy.
He also prescribed an antidote for this: the teaching of shlokas, or verses, from religious texts such as the Bhagwad Gita and the Hanuman Chalisa.
“I would like to say to people present here, this practice should start from the private schools since at government-run ones, we run the risk of inviting accusations of imposing the bhagwa (saffron) agenda,” the BJP leader said at a religious function at his Lok Sabha constituency, Begusarai.
Singh is no stranger to controversy. Recently, he has launched a tirade against people protesting against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA. He has trained his guns on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
In the last week of December, he said Gandhi and the “tukde-tukde” gang were out to re-create 1947-like situation in the country. He also said Gandhi, Congress and Owasi were “trying to do what Mughals and British were not able to achieve i.e. divide the nation”.
Before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he said those who don’t like Narendra Modi, then the party’s prime ministerial candidate, should be prepared to go to Pakistan. The remark stirred a big political controversy.
At the event on Thursday, he said, “Convent-educated students go on to become IITians, DMs [district magistrates] and SPs [superintendents of police]. But a number of them indulge in practices such as eating beef in foreign countries due to the lack of familiarity with country’s culture and religious traditions.”
He pointed out that “our culture is that of generosity” though “we are often accused of holding radical views”.
He also addressed a press conference on CAA, and described the protests against the legislation as “misguided”. He said the Congress, which is opposing the legislation and says it is against the secular ethos of Indian Constitution, was guided by vote bank politics.
His comments on Indians eating beef after going abroad drew criticism by the Opposition. “Is the state of economy in India a matter of concern Sir?” Rizwan Arshad, a Congress legislator from Karnataka, tweeted.
Chitranjan Gagan, a leader of Congress ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), asked, “[BJP-ruled] Gujarat is the biggest supplier of beef. What can one make out of it?”
“It is questionable that whether BJP leaders such as Singh follow the teachings enshrined in Gita. They should practice it before preaching,” said Gagan.
The BJP refused to speak on Singh’s remarks.