Union Rural Development Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Giriraj Singh on Sunday said Hindus should give up eating halal meat and consume only ‘jhatka’, the flesh of animals slaughtered by a single blow of the blade.
Singh also made his supporters in his Begusarai parliamentary constituency take the pledge that they will henceforth not spoil their ‘dharma’ by eating halal meat, PTI reported.
Talking to the media, Giriraj Singh said, “I admire the Muslims who make it a point to consume only halal meat. Now Hindus should demonstrate a similar commitment to their own religious traditions.”
#WATCH | Begusarai, Bihar: Union Minister Giriraj Singh says, “…I respect the Muslims who are committed to their religion. Hindus too need to understand this. ‘Sanatana Dharma’ has ‘bali pratha’ (animal sacrifice) and in ‘bali pratha’ there is jhatka…I’ll get a jhatka meat… pic.twitter.com/GMYakjWuke
— ANI (@ANI) December 18, 2023
“The Hindu way of slaughter is jhatka. Whenever Hindus perform ‘bali’ (animal sacrifice), they do so in a single stroke. As such, they must not corrupt themselves by eating halal meat. They must always stick to jhatka,” said Singh.
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He also stressed the need for a new business model in which there would be abattoirs and shops selling only jhatka meat.
Notably, a few weeks ago, Singh had also written a letter to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to ban the sale of food products labelled as “halal”, drawing inspiration from the Yogi Adityanath government in adjoining Uttar Pradesh.
(With inputs from PTI)