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.”
BJP minister urges Muslims to give up eating beef
BJP minister urges Muslims to give up eating beef
Ukraine’s Zelensky: We have backed US peace proposals to get a deal done
- “The tactic we chose is for the Americans not to think that we want to continue the war,” Zelensky told The Atlantic
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had sought to back US peace proposals to end the war with Russia as President Donald Trump seeks to resolve the conflict before November mid-term elections.
Zelensky, in an interview published by The Atlantic on Thursday, said Kyiv was willing to hold both a presidential election and a referendum on a deal, but would not settle for an accord that was detrimental to Ukraine’s interests.
“The tactic we chose is for the Americans not to think that we want to continue the war,” Zelensky told the US-based publication. “That’s why we started supporting their proposals in any format that speeds things along.”
He said Ukraine was “not afraid of anything. Are we ready for elections? We’re ready. Are we ready for a referendum? We’re ready.”
Zelensky has sought to build good relations with Washington since an Oval Office meeting in February 2025 descended into a shouting match with Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
But he said he had rejected a proposal, reported this week by the Financial Times, to announce the votes on February 24, the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion. A ceasefire and proposed US security guarantees against a future invasion had not yet been settled, he said.
“No one is clinging to power,” The Atlantic quoted him as saying. “I am ready for elections. But for that we need security, guarantees of security, a ceasefire.”
And he added: “I don’t think we should put a bad deal up for a referendum.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Zelensky is not a legitimate negotiating partner because he has not faced election since coming to power in 2019.
Zelensky has said in recent weeks that a document on security guarantees for Ukraine is all but ready to be signed.
But, in his remarks, he acknowledged that details remained unresolved, including whether the US would be willing to shoot down incoming missiles over Ukraine if Russia were to violate the peace.
“This hasn’t been fixed yet,” Zelensky said. “We have raised it, and we will continue to raise these questions...We need all of this to be written out.”
