IIT-M beef protest shows 'upbringing' of students: BJP

Condemning the protest held by the students at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT- Madras) against the Central Government's notification banning the sale of cattle for slaughter, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said, that such behaviour shows the upbringing of thee students, adding IITs do not become IITs by producing this class of people.

"If this is the new youth and a 'new India' then we have to look into the kind of upbringing the parents of these students, the schools and colleges have given them. IITs do not become IITs by producing this class of people," BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi told ANI.

She further said that an animal which is actually helping the farmers and which looks after their families cannot be on somebody's table.

"After all, at least 12 years studies in schools have gone above the heads of these students at the IIT. To begin with, they have not read the notification, second the word 'beef' does not exist, third even if there is protest you just don't start killing animals and lastly the notification was brought after the Supreme Court's judgment," Lekhi added.

She said that the current government has shown the might capacity and good intent to make India secure from all these practices of terrorism and national security perspective in terms of smuggling.

"State laws will prevail in the states but all states will have to follow the food safety act and regulations. Animals cannot be slaughtered on open roads, there has to be dignified process," Lekhi added.

She further said that the transport of the cattle for the purpose of slaughtering has been considered to be banned because 'Gadhimai' is one festival which happens in Nepal where thousands of cattle are slaughtered on one particular day.

"All those cattle are transported from India. Keeping all these things in mind, the government has taken the right step," Lekhi asserted.

The students at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT- Madras) yesterday staged protest against the Central Government's notification banning the sale of cattle for slaughter.

With the police deployed in front of the IIT campus, the students protested at the main gate and raised slogans against the Centre's controversial notification.

Around 50 students on May 28 took part in a 'beef fest' as a mark of protest against the new rule.

Later, R. Sooraj, a PhD student of aerospace engineering at the college, who was also part of the ' beef fest', was allegedly attacked by a few students from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Sooraj, who is a member of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC), was injured in his right eye and was hospitalized.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the attack on the students and requested his Tamil Nadu counterpart Edappadi K. Palaniswami to take necessary action.

Expressing strong disapproval of the Centre's move, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan earlier this week, had sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by attacking the BJP-led government at the centre and the RSS, saying there was no need for the people of his state to draw lessons from New Delhi or Nagpur on their food habits.