New Delhi: The Hindu Sena on Tuesday defended its move to file a complaint against the Kerala House for allegedly serving beef and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose a ban on cow meat across the country. Hindu Sena national president Vishnu Gupta also accused the Kerala House staff of ill-treating its activists.
“Cow meat is banned in North India, this is not Kerala. I urge Prime Minister Modi to impose ban on cow meat all across India so that the people even in Kerala and north-east are unable to consume cow meat,” he told ANI.
He said that the Hindu Sena had lodged a complaint against Kerala House after they got to know that cow meat is being served there. “I got a call from a friend of mine saying that cow meat is being served in Kerala House. We went there and asked why one item in the menu is written in Malayalam whereas rest is in English. They told me that it is beef curry, I then asked them if it is cow meat and they kept quiet. This raised suspicion that they are selling cow meat,” he said.
“Then we complained the matter to Delhi Police. When the police arrived they misbehaved with them, they also ill-treated Hindu Sena workers. Delhi Police instead of taking action against them, they detained two of our members,” he added.
The Kerala Government has lodged a protest against the Delhi Police and Hindu Sena activists, who barged into the Kerala Bhawan protesting against the ‘beef’ that was on the menu. Congress leader Tom Vadakkan also lashed out at the Delhi Police and accused them of indulging in ‘moral policing’.
According to reports, Delhi Police has claimed that they initiated action after getting a PCR call from a right-wing group. The police went to the Kerala House to carry out a precautionary check, but found nothing.
Staff members at Kerala House said as many as 20 police personnel had visited the canteen on Monday along with the Hindu Sena activists to check whether beef was being sold there or not.
“They came in two phases. First four or five policemen men had come and we told them that no beef was being sold here. Still, over a dozen others joined them. They were joined by others who insisted that we remove beef from the menu. We complied as we felt threatened,” said a staffer.
He added that last year, too, the administration had stopped the sale of beef (buffalo meat) for few weeks. Although he could not provide the reason behind the decision, he added that the restriction was removed after the matter reached State Chief Minister Ooomen Chandy and he intervened. Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson said the Resident Commissioner of Kerala House has lodged a police complaint to the concerned DCP.
“I was told that some persons gate-crashed into Kerala House yesterday, the police had also entered. The resident commissioner has made a complaint to the DCP over their (gate- crashers’) entry. We will wait for the police’s action now,” he said. New Delhi DCP Jatin Narwal was not available for a comment on the complaint.
Meanwhile, launching yet another attack on the Delhi Police over the Kerala House row, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the State accused the force of putting the Centre’s interest over the people of Delhi.
While Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal fired the first salvo with a series of tweets, the party backed him with a detailed statement and sending senior leaders Ashutosh and Sanjay Singh to join the protests at Kerala House over the alleged police raid following complaints about the sale of cow meat.
