Centre slammed after hordes of policemen barge into Kerala House to check complaints about beef being served in the canteen there .
New Delhi : In a fresh row over beef ban, a turf war broke out between the Centre and the Kerala government after a Delhi Police team barged into Kerala House in the national capital. The police said it had come to check complaints about beef being served in the House canteen. However, the Kerala government termed it an infringement on its territory with Chief Minister Oomen Chandy writing to the Prime Minister to take ‘action’ against police personnel who had trespassed on the state’s property. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also joined issues with the Centre by calling it an attack on the federal structure. Kerala MPs held a protest outside the premises condemning the Delhi Police move and demanding action against the latter. Senior minister and BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said the police had just gone to check on the information that beef was being served on the premises and prevent any trouble.
Police sources said they received a PCR call that beef was on the menu in the Kerala canteen. A little known fringe outfit called Hindu Sena was said to be behind the call. Delhi Police rushed to the premises but the staff at Kerala House was adamant that ‘beef curry’ was not being served in the canteen and pointed out that only buffalo meat was allowed. According to a TV channel, the Hindu Sena activists, during a visit to the canteen, had noticed the words “beef fry” scribbled in Malayalam on a handwritten menu. The canteen staff, however, explained on Monday that it serves only buffalo meat, which is not illegal, even though the term “beef” is used on the menu. However, the explanations notwithstanding, the issue took a political turn with some MPs staging a protest outside the House. They accused the BJP of moral policing through Delhi Police.
Kejriwal wondered if the police would next arrest a VIP from a state guest house for eating something the BJP did not like. ‘‘It is an attack on the federal structure. The Delhi Police is acting like the BJP Sena,’’ he remarked. Soon news trickled in about Kerala CM Oomen Chandy writing to PM Modi demanding action against Delhi Police. ‘‘I would like to inform you that the Kerala House staff canteen serves authentic vegetarian and non-vegetarian Kerala cuisine and the items on the menu are entirely within the ambit of law,” Chandy has written to Modi, accusing the Delhi Police of overstepping its brief. ‘‘Kerala House is not a private hotel or an institution run for making profit. It is an official guest house of the state government. The police action was really unfortunate. They should have shown some restraint before carrying out searches,” the chief minister has said.
Venkaiah Naidu, however, defended the Delhi police saying they had only ‘‘gone to make enquiries and then they left.’’ ‘‘As for the beef ban, it is a 1994 order. If there is a tip off or apprehension about some flare-up, is the Kerala Police going to handle it,’’ Naidu argued. Meanwhile, authorities in Kerala House said they were ready to take buffalo meat also off the menu for now but retracted later in the evening, saying there was no such proposal. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also waded into the row and asserted, “I strongly condemn what happened at Kerala Bhavan. It was an unwise and unhealthy attempt to curb fundamental rights of people.’’ The Hindu Sena was involved in an ink attack last week on Jammu and Kashmir lawmaker Engineer Rashid, over his beef party in Srinagar.
