Will not allow meat ban in Bengal: Mamata

Kolkata: In wake of a raging controversy over ban of meat in several parts of the country, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted her government will not allow any such ban in the state.

"Some people saying ban meat during pujas, but I said that will not happen. Bengal is land of secularism and communal harmony. In the land of communal harmony, what I will eat is my right. What you will eat is your prerogative," Banerjee said.

"We will not allow any attempts to incite riots and no one can infringe upon the right of the others," the Trinamool Congress chairperson said at an event organised by the state minority development department here.

Earlier in the month, an organisation - Hindu Samhati had written a letter to the chief minister urging her to "ban slaughtering and transportation of cows and selling/mobilisation of beef throughout the State" during four days of Durga Puja beginning October 19.

While Maharashtra and Haryana had banned beef earlier, many other states including Gujarat and Chhattisgarh and cities like Mumbai and its suburbs had recently introduced temporary bans on sale and possession of meat for varying number of days during "Paryushan" or the Jain community's fasting season.