West Bengal BJP unit president Samik Bhattacharya on Monday rejected self-styled preacher Dhirendra Shastri’s appeal to Bengalis to not consume non-vegetarian food during Durga Puja.
“Nobody can tell the people of West Bengal what they should eat,” PTI news agency cited the BJP leader as saying. He added that Bengalis would continue to “eat ‘luchi’ on Ashtami and goat meat on Navami.”
This comes after Shastri, popularly known as Bageshwar Baba, described those who consumed non-vegetarian food during festive season as “pakhandi” and urged them to give up the practice.
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‘Can Bengalis not eat fish and meat?’
Bhattacharya said no one could decide what people in Bengal should eat, while saying that goat meat is offered to Goddess Kali too.
“Let me live the way I want to. Bengalis will eat what they have been eating. Can Bengalis not eat fish and meat? Swami Vivekananda has said it. Who is above him?” the Bengal BJP chied questioned.
He added, “Here, goat meat is offered as an offering to Maa Kali.” Shastri’s remarks came during his visit to West Bengal a few days ago, during which he made an appeal against consumption of non-vegetarian food during Durga Puja. The BJP has sought to distance itself from these statements or any prescription which could be seen as an attempt to regulate the state’s eating habits.
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‘Saints or doctors can advise, but nobody from outside can decide’
While Bhattacharya said he respected Shastri as a religious figure, he clarified that the latter’s personal viewpoints could not be imposed on the people of Bengal. The Bengal BJP chief said that while a saint or a doctor could advise people to turn vegetarian, “nobody coming from outside can sit in Bengal and decide who will eat what and who will wear what.”
Shastri had, during his visit to Bengal, held religious programmes across the state under the BJP government, a departure from the tenure of the previous Trinamool Congress government.
Bhattacharya also issued a statement on another controversy surrounding Durga Puja, specifically on a West Bengal government advertisement depicting Goddess Durga. The BJP said the depiction was a “possible technical or printing error by the advertising agency”, and advised against turning the same into a political controversy.
