After Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in an interview to TheIndian Express said that ‘Muslims can live in this country, but will have to give up eating beef’, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded that he be sacked as his comments are a blow to the country’s secular fabric.
“Khattar sahab should resign for making such an irresponsible statement and if he does not, then the BJP should sack him. He has distorted the secular fabric of the country. His statement is not only unfortunate, but shameful,” AAP’s Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey said.
Mr. Khattar had said that Muslims can continue to live in this country, but they will have to give up eating beef because cow is an article of faith here. He later denied the charge saying his statement was distorted and he was ready to express regret if he had hurt the sentiment of people.
The AAP had earlier issued a radio ad appealing to people to stay calm and without taking names, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that ‘poisonous’ politicians are playing the communal card to divide the country for their gain. Party leaders said the ‘poisonous’ politicians make statements like this. Criticising the BJP leadership for not taking action against motormouths such as Mr. Khattar, they said the AAP sacked their minister on corruption charges. “A criminal case should be registered against him.” The BJP, which is busy concentrating on the Bihar polls, though distanced itself from Mr. Khattar’s comments, said it doesn’t hold the same views.
However, Mr. Kejriwal anticipated a victory for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and claimed that the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was all set to ‘badly’ lose the elections. “As per my information, Modiji is losing Bihar elections badly. Nitishji is winning the polls,” he tweeted.
“Khattar sahab should resign for making such an irresponsible statement and if he does not, then the BJP should sack him”
