A Nationalist Congress Party MLA sparked controversy recently after he said 'Lord Ram' ate meat as he couldn't live in the jungle for 14 years being a vegetarian.
The Mumbra-Kalwa MLA Jitendra Awhad's comment came at the time when BJP demanded January 22, the consecration day of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya to be declared as a day on which all non-vegetarian food should be banned.
Awhad said Lord Rama was a Bahujan and a non-vegetarian, contrary to common belief.
"Ram is ours. Ram belongs to the Bahujans. Ram who hunts and eats is ours, we belong to the Bahujans. When you people go to make us all vegetarian, we follow the ideals of Ram and today we eat mutton. This is the ideal of Ram," Awhad said while addressing an event in Maharashtra's Shirdi on Wednesday.
He asked how a man who lived in the jungle for 14 years remained a vegetarian.
In response to the Sharad Pawar faction leader's statements. Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra chief priest, Acharya Satyendra Das, strongly refuted the claims, calling them "completely false."
Chief Priest Acharya Satyendra Das said, "What NCP leader Jitendra Awhad is speaking 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," Acharya Satyendra Das stated expressing his disapproval.
Meanwhile, a BJP MLA Ram Kadam filed a complaint against the NCP leader in Mumbai
Addressing the media, Ram Kadam said, "Their mindset is to hurt the sentiments of the Ram bhakts. They can't make fun of the Hindu religion to gather votes. The fact that Ram mandir has been built has not gown down well with the 'ghamandi' alliance."