N. SreeprakashMalappuram: Beef piled up on the political palate just two days after the BJP candidate in Malappuram camouflaged his earlier offer to the electorate to provide clean meat.
N Sreeprakash, the BJP candidate, had made an offer which many of his hardline party colleagues would have wished was an April Fools' day prank: He offered a steady supply of clean meat to voters in his constituency if elected.
Read: Malappuram BJP candidate offers steady supply of beef
A day later and after pressure from his peers in the hardline Hindutva outfit, Sreeprakash chose to seek shelter in the emphasis of his statement.
The emphasis of his statement was about clean abbatoirs, the BJP candidate clarified. "My words have been distorted. I am against cow slaughter. What I meant was quality food should be provided to the people," Sreeprakash said, adding that it was up to the Kerala government to decide whether or not to ban beef.
Hours later, BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan told mediapersons that the party would seek a statement from the candidate about the circumstances in which he made such a statement.
"We do not have a separate stand on the issue. We go by the national party policy. However, I need to know what the candidate has exactly said. What I understand is that he talked about modernizing the abattoirs," he said.
There are several slaughterhouses functioning illegally, Kummanam said, adding that Sreeprakash had talked about efforts to legalize and modernize them.
"Food is a matter of individual preference. People follow different food habits in Kerala. It is not an issue to be discussed at the time of elections," he said.
On the Shiv Sena's opposition to the controversial beef statement, Kummanam said that was a matter which would be dealt with by the central leadership of the party.
Clearly, the politics of beef is giving the Saffron outfit sleepless nights ahead of the by-poll.
