People with beards and caps around temples will be beaten, says BJP MLA Shasi Bhushan Mehta; Cong, JMM slam legislator ( ETV Bharat )

Ranchi: A BJP legislator has stoked a controversy by harping that he and his company would attack anyone spotted with beards and caps, an apparent reference to Muslims, near the temples. The Jharkhand Police and Minority Commission have taken note of the remarks made by the legislator, and Jharkhand State Minority Commission is also seized of the matter.

Shashi Bhushan Mehta, an MLA from Panki assembly constituency, was making these remarks in an undated video which had trickled out in the social media.

“If we see people with beards and caps (Muslims) around the temple, just like we have earlier said in the Legislative Assembly that if a person who eats cow meat is seen near or inside a temple, he will have to face the consequences. We will chase them and beat them, no matter what the outcome is. We don’t care.”

It is learnt that the video of the MLA is from a public meeting he attended during a foundation stone laying ceremony for a marriage hall in Panki assembly constituency on the occasion of Durga Puja.

He took aim at the Muslim community without naming them.

This story was originally published in etvbharat.com. Read the full story here .