By IndiaTomorrow.net,
Mumbai, 19 Oct 2015: Sudheendra Kulkarni, eminent columnist, writer and former aide of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani, has asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its government to take action to stop beef politics – which is taking lives of people. In the last three weeks, three Muslims have been killed over beef issue in the country.
“I strongly condemn killing of Kashmir trucker #ZahidAhmed over beef rumours. BJP and Government must take urgent steps to stop #BeefPolitics,” tweeted Kulkarni after Zahid Rasool Bhat succumbed to petrol bomb injuries at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on Sunday. Bhat had suffered 80 per cent burn injuries after a mob set afire a truck in which he was sleeping along with two more Kashmiris in Udhampur area of Jammu and Kashmir on 9th Oct.
On 14th Oct, Noman Akhtar, a resident of Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, who was allegedly smuggling cattle along with four others, was beaten to death at a village some 28 km from Nahan town, the district headquarters of Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh.
On 28th Sep, Mohammad Akhlaq, 50, was lynched by a mob in Dadri area of Uttar Pradesh, following rumours that he ate and stored beef.
In earlier tweets, Kulkarni, whose face was blackened by members of Shiv Sena last week for hosting a book launch event for a former Pakistan minister, condemned Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar for his harsh statement over beef issue. In an interview to The Indian Express, Khattar had said: Muslims can live in this country, but will have to give up eating beef.
“Haryana CM’s reprehensible statement: “Muslims can live in this country but …” He shd know: India belongs as much to Muslims as to Hindus,” said Kulkarni.
While making it clear that he is a strict vegetarian, Kulkarni condemned “coercive beef politics”.
“I don’t eat beef. I am a strict vegetarian by conviction. But I condemn moves to make beef the criterion to decide who can live in India…I welcome Hindus PERSUADING Muslims to respect their religious sentiments by not eating beef. But I disapprove of coercive beef politics,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday summoned four party leaders who have in the recent past made controversial statements over Dadri lynching and beef ban. Those summoned included Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma, MLA Sangeet Som and MP Sakshi Maharaj and they were reportedly asked to keep from making controversial statements over the issue.
