Mumbai (Maharashtra): Having courted controversy by his "Lord Ram was a non vegetarian" remark, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Jitendra Awhad apologised on Thursday saying his aim was not to hurt anyone's sentiment.
Awhad said that Lord Ram is in our hearts and nobody can take him away from there. "Lord Ram belongs to the Bahujans. I never make any comment without knowledge and have proof to substantiate my statement. Please do not use Ram for politics. I do extend my apologies if my statement hurt anyone. Those who insult woman are criticising me. History has been never distorted in this manner," he said.
It has been learnt that NCP leader and MLA Rohit Pawar had advised Awhad not to talk about God and religion. Awhad had made his controversial remark while addressing a programme in Maharashtra's Shirdi yesterday.
He had then said, "Lord Ram is ours and belongs to the Bahujans. Ram who hunts and eats is ours and we belong to the Bahujans. The ideals of Lord Ram is that he was not a vegetarian," Awhad had also questioned as to where a person who was living in the forest for 14 years find vegetarian food. "Am I correct or not? Tell me if I'm saying wrong," he had told the gathered.
The incident rose a political uproar with the BJP registering an FIR against him and slammed him for disrespecting the emotions of crores of Lord Ram devotees. BJP leader Ram Kadam also criticised former Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray for remaining mum on the issue and accused him of not caring about Hindus or Marathas and instead playing dirty politics before elections.
The BJP leader has also urged chief minister Eknath Shinde to ban meat and liquor on January 22, the day of consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
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