His exact comment, during an interview to Nirupama Subramanian and Varinder Bhatia, was: "Muslim rahein, magar is desh mein beef khaana chhodna hi hoga unko. Yahan ki manyata hai gau (Muslims can stay but in India they have to give up beef. The cow is revered here)." He said giving up beef will not hurt the religious sentiments of either Muslims or Christians in India.
"They can be Muslim even after they stop eating beef, can’t they? It is written nowhere that Muslims have to eat beef, not is it written anywhere in Christianity that they have to eat beef,” he said. He argued that a democracy offers certain rights to citizens but those come with limitations.
