Team Herald
MARGAO: Condemning the VHP statement to ban beef consumption, Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco has demanded that the State government and its allies come clear on the issue.
Briefing media persons, he said the issue of cow slaughter has been settled once and for all and nobody wants to kill cows which are primarily bred. “Being a cattle farmer myself, I do not want to kill cows,” he said.
He said the VHP tirade was basically to target the minority communities primarily Muslims and Catholics, who consume beef with a large number of Muslims involved in the beef trade in Goa.
Pointing out that the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has announced a whole list of don’ts in the state, he wondered whether the BJP government in Goa too wants to follow suit.
He said Catholics all over the country have excelled in various fields and their contribution to education is unquestionable as they have produced many reputed parliamentarians.
He wondered whether this was the way BJP wanted to repay the Catholic community.
“The movement there is not to protect cows but only to the polarise people of India along religious lines,” he alleged and claimed that there is a definite campaign underway as earlier BJP’s Subramanian Swamy had made a statement on beef and now it is the VHP.
