BJP MLA Nand Kishor Gurjar from Loni in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, stirred controversy ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections when on Saturday, April 6, he went around the area asking people to shut meat shops in areas near temples. He added that opening such meat shops was “rashtradroh” or the act of a ‘traitor’.

What had happened?

“Meat shops were opened near temples in Loni. It is illegal and amounts to rashtradroh. None of this would have been possible without the connivance of local officials,” the BJP MLA could be heard saying in a video which is floating on the social media.

"Opening meat Shops is sedition act" ~ BJP MLA Nand Kishor Gurjar, Loni Ghaziabad

But lynching people and garlanding lynchers is Nationalism..pic.twitter.com/ycqxOBzfNP

— Md Asif Khan‏‎‎‎‎‎‎ آصِف (@imMAK02) April 7, 2019

Reportedly, Ghaziabad SSP U K Agrawal said that the police have not received any formal complaint with regard to the matter. However, sources have told The Indian Express that after 2017, licences of meat shops and slaughterhouses were regularised. In that period, no issues with regards to meat shops were raised in the area. In 2017, the UP government released guidelines that said that meat shops are prohibited within a 50-metre radius of a religious place.

“Navratris have begun and it is absolutely wrong to continue the slaughter. Tomorrow if there is tension in the area because of this, who will be responsible?” Gurjar questioned. “I requested them and told them this was wrong. Usually, I don’t make requests. I said this was wrong and they shut the shops,” he added.

Meanwhile, BJP media in-charge in Ghaziabad, Pradeep Chaudhary said that while he was not aware of the incident, if the MLA said so, it must have been a part of his own agenda.

India is a secular country and it was definitely wrong on part of the MLA to make statements which might invoke communal hatred, especially ahead of the elections.  The Logical Indian urges the MLAs and other people in a position of power to make responsible statements.

Also Read: Meat Ban Cannot be Shoved Down Someone’s Throat: Supreme Court