New Delhi: Retorting sharply at Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) Sharad Pawar faction leader Jitendra Awhads crude remarks dubbing ‘Lord Rama as a non-vegetarian’, the NCP National media coordinator and special invitee member of the national working committee of the NCP ( Ajit Pawar faction) Naveen Kumar said that Lord Rama was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and it is a well known fact that Vaishnavs are always vegetarian.
Terming the statement which sparked furore in political as well as spiritual circle as "most unfortunate", Prof. Kumar said that in view of the overwhelming and enthusiastic support for Pran Pratishtha (consecration) of Ram temple, the constituent units of I.N.D.I. Alliance were scared of the Modi government crossing the strength of 400 plus in the next Lok Sabha elections. Out of sheer frustration, the leaders of I.N.D.I. block were issuing ridiculous statements regarding Ram with an ulterior motive of triggering confusion in the public. Such leaders were also making derogatory remarks in the name of Ram temple only to prevent Modi from coming back to power.
Lambasting Jitendra Awadh for his comments regarding Lord Rama, Kumar alleged that Jitendra Awadh has no political say in Maharashtra and was continuing in politics with the blessings of the stalwart leader like Sharad Pawar. Kumar said it seems that Awadh has given such a statement regarding Lord Rama without any consent of Sharad Pawar who must initiate action against such a "Dark Horse" in his fold. The NCP leader said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose government in the year 2015 had adopted resolutions for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, repealing of article 370 and to make Bharat a digitally equipped country has successfully executed the resolution.
As it is Awhad, had sparked a controversy with his claim that Lord Ram was a non-vegetarian. In a recent event in Shirdi he said: "Lord Ram was non-vegetarian due to the lack of vegetarian food in the forest during his exile. Where would a person living in the forest for 14 years go to find vegetarian food?" He went on saying that "Lord Ram is ours. He belongs to the Bahujans. Lord Ram, who hunts and eats (flesh) is ours, we belong to the Bahujans. Some people make us out to be vegetarians. But we follow the ideals of Lord Ram and today we consume mutton".
Awhad, though apologised for his remarks in case it had hurt anyone but also defended his comments by refering to a research paper on Valmiki Ramayana by IIT Kanpur in this context.
Meanwhile Union minister Giriraj Singh strongly rejected Awhads apology saying that Awhad verbally abused Lord Ram to attack the Hindu faith. He has not apologised because he realised his mistake, he did it out of fear. Apologising after using foul language is not acceptable, Giriraj Singh said.