NCP leader Jitendra Awhad expresses regret for calling Hindu deity Ram a ‘non-vegetarian’

Nationalist Congress Party leader Jitendra Awhad on Thursday expressed regret for a comment he made earlier this week referring to the Hindu deity Ram as a “non-vegetarian” but said that his statement was factual, reported ANI.

“I did not want to hurt the public’s sentiments,” Awhad, a former Minister of Housing in Maharashtra, told reporters.

Awhad, who is aligned with the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, made the comments at a party function in Ahmednagar’s Shirdi city on Wednesday.

“Lord Ram was a king of Bahujans and a non-vegetarian,” Awhad said there. “Ram was never a vegetarian. He was a non-vegetarian. How can a man who lived in the jungle for 14 years remain a vegetarian?”

The comment has drawn criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“What proof does Jitendra Awhad have to show lord Ram ate non-vegetarian food?” asked BJP MLA from Ghatkopar Ram Kadam, reported The Indian Express. “Had he gone to see that? At a time when the temple is being inaugurated, he has disrespected the emotions of crores of devotees of Lord Ram,” said Kadam.

Kadam also filed a police complaint against the former minister on Thursday.

#WATCH | On his "non-vegetarian" comment on Lord Ram, NCP-Sharad Pawar faction leader Jitendra Awhad says, "I express regret. I did not...

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