Jitendra Awhad, a leader from the NCP-Sharad Pawar faction, stirred controversy on Wednesday with his recent remarks on Lord Ram, just ahead of the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Awhad claimed that Lord Ram was a non-vegetarian during his exile due to the lack of vegetarian food in the forest. Speaking at an event in Maharashtra's Shirdi, the NCP leader said, "Lord Ram was not a vegetarian; he was a non-vegetarian. Where would a person living in the forest for 14 years go to find vegetarian food? Is it correct or not?."
On Thursday, BJP leader Ram Kadam announced that he would file a police complaint against NCP-Sharad Pawar faction leader Jitendra Awhad for his statement about Lord Ram being a "non-vegetarian." Kadam expressed that such remarks aimed to hurt the sentiments of Ram devotees and criticised the alliance for attempting to use Hindu religion for political gains. He also took to Twitter to criticise the Uddhav Thackeray faction, stating that if Balasaheb Thackeray were alive today, he would have spoken harshly on the Saamna editorial ( Marathi-language newspaper published in Maharashtra).
BJP Leader Ram Kadam's Tweet
Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra Acharya Satyendra Das Racted on Jitendra Awhad's Statement
Acharya Satyendra Das, the chief priest of Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra, responded to Awhad's remarks on Lord Ram. Speaking to news agency ANI, he dismissed Awhad's statement as false, stating, "What NCP leader Jitendra Awhad is saying is completely false. It isn't written anywhere in our scriptures that Lord Ram had non-vegetarian food during his exile. It's written that he used to have fruits...Such a liar has no right to insult our Lord Ram...Our God was always vegetarian...He is speaking demeaning words to insult our Lord Ram..."