Arrest Sadhvi Saraswati for hate speech against beef-eaters: BJP MLA

Panaji, Jul 18: Religious leaders like Sadhvi Saraswati, who deliver hate speeches in Goa, should be arrested and banned from visiting Goa, deputy speaker and BJP MLA Michael Lobo told the state Assembly on Tuesday.

"Sadhvi Saraswati had said that beef-eaters should be hanged. Why do they come to Goa and make such statements? Police should act against her, or someone else will come and say something else. Who all would we be able to stop," Lobo asked during a discussion on the motion of thanks on the governor's address.

"There should be a precedent. An FIR should be filed against anyone who gives hate speeches. They must be summoned to the police headquarters," Lobo said.

Madhya Pradesh-based Sadhvi Saraswati, who was in Goa to attend a four-day All India Hindu Convention, had said that those who eat beef should be hanged.

Lobo said that such "rabble rousers" should be banned from Goa on the lines of Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik.

"Such type of people should be banned from entering Goa, whoever it is... We have to have full control of all these things. We should not allow this. Those who want to disturb Goa, they have no place here," he said.

More than 30 percent of the state's 1.5 million population comprises conventionally beef-eating minority communities.