At a public meeting here, Modi took umbrage at instances of members of Congress and its allies circulating videos of cooking and consuming non-vegetarian food during the Hindu month of Sawan and Navratri when large sections stick to vegetarian food.
“Jo zamanat par hain, aise ek mujrim ke ghar jaake, Sawan ke mahine mein mutton banane ka mauj le rahe hai (They go to the house of a convict out on bail and have fun cooking mutton),” Modi said. Though he did not take names, the reference clearly was to last year’s video of RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi cooking mutton with Rahul Gandhi in audience. Tejashwi recently courted controversy over another video which showed him enjoying fried fish.
“Neither the law nor Modi restrains people from eating whatever they want whenever they wish. But they have a different intent,” he said.
Ram mandir predates British era, was never a poll issue: PM
Accusing opposition leaders of hurting sentiments of the majority by posting videos of eating meat during auspicious periods, PM Modi on Friday also linked their criticism of construction of Ram Mandir to their electoral compulsion of appeasement.
Responding to the charge that BJP has exploited Ram Mandir for its electoral advantage, Modi said that the boot, in fact, was on the other foot. “Ram Mandir was never an electoral issue. For, it predates BJP, even British rule, going back to 500 years and it represents the struggle that our people waged for the protection of our holy sites destroyed by a foreign invader. They suffered a lot in the process.”
He said that it was Congress and its ecosystem which gets rattled at the very mention of Ram Mandir. “It is they who need to explain what was the calculation which led them to oppose the construction of Ram Mandir, dub Lord Ram an imaginary figure and consign Ram Lalla to a makeshift structure whose tarpaulin canopy would leak. And when the trustees went to respectfully invite them for the Pran Pratistha ceremony, they turned down the invite. What was the reason for that? Whom did they want to please by doing so? This was an assault on those who worship Shri Ram.”
Objecting to meat-eating videos posted by opposition members, he said, “They want to offend sentiments of people as part of their politics of appeasement: the same mindset as that of Mughal invaders who would not be content by grabbing power and defeating the kings. They would not be satisfied until they had destroyed temples. That is what would satisfy them most”.