BJP alliance partner GFP hits out at VHP over bid to impose beef ban in Goa

"Any one who breaks the law will be dealt with seriously," said Vijai Sardesai

Hitting out at the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) claims that it will ban beef in the state, the Goa Forward Party (GFP), an alliance partner of the ruling BJP, on Monday said those who try to create communal disharmony will be dealt with strongly.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad yesterday said that it is capable of imposing a total ban on cow slaughter and consumption of beef in Goa in the next couple of years, without the government's help.

"I condemn the statement of the VHP leader who has said that the organisation will force ban on beef consumption in Goa in next one or two years," GFP leader and Goa's Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai told reporters.

"As a minister, I want to tell the VHP that any one who breaks the law will be dealt with seriously," he said.

"In the past, Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik was trying to come to Goa... He has been banned by the state government. The VHP leaders who are making such statements will also meet a similar fate," he said.

VHP's senior functionary Radha Krishna Manori yesterday said that the organisation has been awakening people against the cow slaughter and eating beef.

He said the VHP will impose the ban in the state with the help of the Bajrang Dal and the Durga Vahini activists.

Sardesai on Monday said he has discussed the issue with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

"If, by utterances, you are trying to create communal disharmony or if you are trying to fuel communal tension in the state then this goes against the law and you will be dealt with firmly.

"When the VHP speaks of its cadres to enforce the ban, they should not forget that Goa Forward also has its followers who will stop them. The radical elements do not have any place in the Goan society," the minister said.