J-K minister condemns assault on MLA Rashid over beef party

Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Basharat Bukhari today said Muslims in the state have every right to consume beef as it was allowed in their religion, and condemned the assault on an independent MLA in the Assembly.
"The member (Rashid) they (protesting BJP members in legislative council) are talking about is not a member of this house (Council). (However), according to the constitution of India and the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, people have every right to live their life according to their wishes.
"As Parliament Affairs minister, I am ashamed of what happened today in the Lower House," Bukhari said in Legislative Council amidst an uproar created by BJP members demanding the arrest of Langate MLA Engineer Rashid Rashid over his beef-party at the MLA Hostel yesterday.

Bukhari, a PDP MLA from Sangrama constituency in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, said every individual has a right to consume what his religion allows.
"As a Muslim, I have every right to consume beef. (Likewise) every Hindu has a right to consume what he wants to," he said, adding, "nobody should take us for a ride".
Another PDP Minister Abdul Haq Khan said Rashid only wants to be "in news" always as otherwise there was no issue.

"He wants to be in news always. He had this party outside the MLA Hostel. He got the beef cooked from a hotel. There is nothing (else about the issue)," Khan said in the Council.

However, BJP's Forest Minister Bali Bhagat said the government condemns Rashid's action.
"What Rashid did, government condemns that," he said.
When the opposition members asked him about his response on the assault on Rashid by BJP MLAs, the minister said "it was wrong as well".