Days after Union culture Minister Mahesh Sharma spoke about cleansing India of western influences, he has once again courted controversy.
In an interview to India Today TV, Sharma spoke about multiple issues and gave his candid views on them. About the ongoing raging controversy regarding meat ban in some states during the Jain festival of Paryushan, Sharma said he welcomed such restrictions.
He said that, "If the sacrifices of a few help maintain the religious sentiments of a section of society, there is no harm in doing this". Sharma also said that the Centre will decide on extending meat ban to nine days of Navratri festival. He said, "It will be a political decision. We would want that".
The minister said that he is working with the HRD Ministry to incorporate the Ramayana and Mahabharata in schools. But in a controversial statement, Sharma claimed that religious texts like the Bible and the Quran were not central to India's soul.
Making a strong pitch for learning Hindi and Sanskrit, Sharma said that Hindi should be made compulsory in all schools. According to him, putting parents in old age home and having narcotics were examples of western culture. The minister also made a fervent bid to remove the ill-effects of western culture from Indian society.
However, Sharma doesn't agree with the notion that BJP is trying to drive a saffron agenda in its governance. According to him, the party is merely trying to act in accordance with the massive mandate received from the people of India.
