Union Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Sanitation and Drinking Water Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh on Friday held the Uttar Pradesh government responsible for the Dadri incident, saying that it should have reacted in time to avert such an incident.
“The Dadri incident is unfortunate and it should not have happened. As law and order is a state subject, the UP government should have taken proper steps to avert this incident,” Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function held here on Friday.
He said: ‘’We are a civilisation of more than 1000 years. Our culture and tradition teach us tolerance and co-existence. This issue has a national consensus and we cannot depart from it.”
Singh said that law and order being a state subject, the Samajwadi Party government should have taken the Dadri issue seriously. “It should have asked for Central assistance if it thought the situation was going out of hand,” he added.
On the controversial beef issue, the Union minister said that no one should comment on one’s eating habit as one person may like to eat beef while another may dislike it.
“I can only say that some leader should come forward and suggest people to turn vegetarian,” he added.
To buttress his point, Singh said just as former Prime Minister lal Bahadur Shastri had asked people to keep fast once a week to save foodgrain when the country was facing a foodgrain crisis, if a senior leader suggested to people to turn vegetarian, they would listen to him.
“Still, I can say that eating habit is a personal issue but majority of the people are sensitive about beef eating,” he said.
The Union minister, however, refused to comment on the controversial statement of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar that Muslims would have to stop eating beef.
Singh also held the state government responsible for the hoarding of essential commodities, including pulses.
“If the hike in prices of pulses benefits farmers then it is welcome, but if it benefits middlemen, it is detrimental for the farmers. The state government should act against the black marketeers because the local government is responsible to check hoarding,” he said.
When questioned further, the minister refused to elaborate saying he was not the agriculture minister of the country.