Kerala tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran tells Preetha Nair that communal groups were behind the controversy over his department’s recent ‘beef tweet’. Excerpts from the interview:
Kerala’s Republic Day tableau was rejected by the Centre.
It was a huge disappointment. With BJP at the Centre, we were allowed only once to participate in the parade. The reason for striking us off the list is a no-brainer—when you can’t win the game, influence the referee to cancel it!
The ‘beef fry’ tweet kicked up a storm on social media.
Beef is a must-try in Kerala—34.5 million Malayalees consumed 2.49 lakh tonnes of beef in FY2018-19. That is 7.2 kg of beef per person. The tourism department is promoting every indigenous attraction. We don’t worry about the right-wing’s ‘hurt religious sentiment’, just a venomous effort to create a controversy. India is the world’s second largest beef exporter, and it’s not Kerala, but states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra that produce the most beef.
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There were calls to boycott Kerala and stop Malayalees from entering temples.
That kind of hate-mongering won’t affect our tourism. Kerala is a land of temples and festivals, and various communities live in harmony with each other.
Many asked Kerala Tourism to post images of pork, a taboo in Islam.
A few people were trying to polarise our food culture in a sectarian battle. I don’t think anyone else has ever tried to create hatred over a specific food. We also posted images of pork dishes earlier, but no one acted desperately violent then. Efforts to put things into a binary will be in vain as people are secular-minded.
