Hooghly (WB) : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said food and religion are matters of individual choice and no one can dictate what one should eat, and asserted that the “biggest” duty of governments is to protect the religious freedom and rights of minorities.
“We are against the Dadri incident, we don’t support it. Who are you to dictate what one should eat… It’s a matter of my choice. If I have the right to eat fish, you have the right to eat meat as well. Whatever you eat, beef or chicken, is your individual choice,” Banerjee told a gathering of members of the Muslim community at Furfura Shariff here.
“Many minorities, Christians and tribals consume beef. It is their choice. Who are you to stop them! We are all citizens of this country. The Constitution has given us some basic rights. It’s a secular country,” she said.
The Chief Minister made an all-out effort to reach out to minorities ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls and said, “The biggest duty is to protect you people… to preserve your religious rights and freedom. I believe that just like I have my own freedom of religion, you people too have your freedom of religion.”
