The Vishwa Hindu Parishad's national joint general secretary Surendra Jain called the accomplished writers who returned their Sahitya Academi awards in recent days 'hypocrites' and challenged them to eat pork in Saudi Arabia and 'return alive'.
Writers such as Nayantara Sehgal, Ashok Vajpeyi, Sara Joseph and many others have returned their awards while criticising the BJP-ruled government after the Dadri beef lynching and the murder of rationalists like MM Kalburgi.
The VHP has said it will not accept any "compromise" on preventing cow slaughter and have called for a complete beef ban.
Jain dared the writers to ask for pork in the Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia and 'return alive.
"If they do so and return alive, I myself would welcome them, else they should stop being hypocrites," he said on Sunday while at a VHP event in Lucknow, The Times of India reported.
"What we want is a complete ban on eating of beef, as mother cow is the centre of faith for Hindus and it should not be hurt," he added.
Jain also raked up the Ram temple agenda, stating that it was "among the core issues on which the BJP will work with priority", The Indian Express reported.
He also seemed to sound a warning to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government fell because it did not construct the Ram mandir in Ayodhya.
"Narendra Modi is a sharp politician. He is working with a plan to run the government for a long time. We are sure that the government will cooperate in building the Ram temple," Jain said.
He also accused the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh, where a Muslim man was lynched by a mob over rumours he ate beef, of creating a 'Ravan Rajya', claiming the chief minister was appeasing the Muslim community by giving Rs 45 lakh to the family of the deceased Mohammed Akhlaq.
