Mumbai, Dec. 4 -- Ahead of the Nashik Kumbh Mela, around 1,800 trees are set to be cut at Tapovan to construct a Sadhu Gram. Opposition parties, environmental groups and activists have strongly objected to this large-scale tree felling.
Commenting on the controversy, Minister Nitesh Rane on Thursday made a provocative statement, asking why environmentalists remain silent during Bakri Eid. Those who worry about trees why are they quiet on Bakri Eid? Why don't they hug goats the way they hug trees?" he asked, triggering a heated debate.
Rane further questioned what he alleged was double standards of activists. According to him, environmentalists never protest goat slaughter during Eid. Where does the principle of sarva dharma samabhav (equa...