Maharashtra minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha on Thursday claimed Jain community members had no role in the protest at a popular pigeon feeding spot in Mumbai, where agitators forcibly removed a tarpaulin cover to offer grains to the birds.
He clarified there was no religious angle to the pigeon feeding issue.
While removing the tarpaulin cover, put up by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation at the Dadar Kabutarkhana to discourage the practice of feeding grains to pigeons, the protesters also clashed with police on Wednesday morning.
Lodha, who holds the skill development portfolio and also functions as Mumbai suburban district guardian minister, said he is being unnecessarily dragged into the raging controversy over feeding of pigeons in public places in the metropolis, and the protest.
"It is wrong to blame me for the incident of a crowd forcefully opening the Dadar Kabutarkhana and offering grains to pigeons," he told reporters.
The BJP leader emphasised he has never done anything to harm society and called for maintaining a balance between safeguarding public health in view of medical risks linked to pigeon droppings and ensuring the survival of the birds. -- PTI
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