NEW DELHI: The head of an Indian state belonging to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party has urged the country’s minority Muslims to stop eating beef out of respect for the sentiments of Hindus, a call that could further inflame social divisions.
The comments by Manohar Lal Khattar, chief minister of the northern state of Haryana, come after a Hindu mob lynched a Muslim man over rumors he ate beef, fueling a fierce debate over rising intolerance toward religious minorities in India.
Cows are considered holy by many, but not all, Hindus, who form a majority of India’s population of 1.2 billion. Beef is eaten by Muslims and Christians, as well as many lower-caste Hindus.
Although Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies have long campaigned for a ban on cow slaughter, India has emerged as the world’s largest exporter of beef. The trade is mostly run by Muslims.
“In this country, they (Muslims) will have to give up eating beef,” Khattar told the Indian Express newspaper in an interview.
“They can be Muslim even after they stop eating beef, can’t they? It is written nowhere that Muslims have to eat beef, nor is it written anywhere in Christianity that they have to eat beef.”