RJD Chief Lalu Prasad addressing an election rally in Bihar (Press Trust of India photo)
Amidst outrage over the killing of a man in Uttar Pradesh over rumours he ate beef, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad on Saturday stoked a controversy saying Hindus too eat beef and accused the BJP and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS of communalising the issue, triggering a sharp response from the BJP.
Lalu Prasad, however, said that beef does not mean cow meat and those who eat meat do not differentiate between cow meat and goat meat.
He also said that those who eat meat are not civilised.
"Those who eat meat are not civilised people. Poor people eat meat to beat their hunger... Those who go outside (the country) eat beef. Even Hindus eat beef. There is no difference between beef and goat meat," he told reporters before embarking upon an election tour.
Lalu Prasad, who has turned vegetarian, advocated that "nobody should eat meat as it is not good for health".
On the killing of a Muslim in Bishada village in Greater Noida on rumours of beef eating, the RJD chief said, "RSS-BJP is trying to communalise the issue, but they will not be successful in their design."
Reacting sharply to his comments, BJP leader and Union Minister of State Giriraj Singh asked the RJD chief to take back his words failing which he (minister) would launch agitation against it from his residence.
"Lalu has no control over his sense. Hindus, who rear cows, never eat beef. He should take back his words or I'll start agitation from his residence," Mr Singh said in his tweet.
Lalu Prasad is already mired in controversy over his forward-backward casteist remark at an election meeting recently in Raghopur Assembly constituency from where his son Tejaswi Yadav is contesting.
The Election Commission had taken note of it and asked him to explain his stand in making the statement on or before 3 pm of October 6, failing which the Commission would take a decision without further reference.