Singer Zubeen Garg has landed into a fresh controversy after his comments against animal sacrifice in Shakti shrine Kamakhya Temple and wearing lagoon (sacred thread) by Brahmins.
The popular singer in a function at Kamakhya temple premises here on Monday night said, “I have heard Bollywood actor Govinda had sacrificed a buffalo at Kamakhya temple yesterday. Why we should sacrifice animal. You should have sacrificed yourself, not a buffalo. Maa Kamakhya, or any other God would never want animal sacrifice. So let’s stop this practice,” Zubeen said.
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It is not known whether actor Govinda sacrificed an animal at Kamakhya temple during his visit to the Shakti shrine on Sunday.
The Kamakhya temple is considered to be the greatest shrine of mystic Shaktism, one of the main religions of Assam during the medieval period.
“I am against casteism. I know after the release of my film Kansanjangha, the Brahmins would mind me. I am a Brahmin but I don’t wear lagoon. I snapped it many years back. My dad is a Brahmin but this does not necessarily mean that I must follow his Brahminical tradition,” he said on the stage.
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Zubeen’s comments, however, have not gone down well as Kamakhya temple authority has condemned his statement and demanded an apology from him.
The priests of the temple said that if Zubeen does not tender unconditional apology, the singer will be barred from entering the premises of the temple.
“We have strongly condemned the remarks made by singer Zubeen Garg on the tradition of animal sacrifice in Kamakhya temple. He is a singer and a pride of Assam, he should confine himself to his own work and refrain from making unwarranted comments on age-old traditions and rituals that are followed in Kamakhya temple,” Kabindra Sharma, a senior priest of Kamakhya Temple, told reporters here.
Zubeen, however, has refused to tender an apology. “What I said on animal sacrifice at Kamakhya temple is my personal opinion. I love animals, so I said like that. Question of apologising does not arise,” said the popular singer.
Most of the social media users have backed Zubeen saying he has made no mistake by opposing the sacrifice of animal.
Earlier, Jnanpith award-winning writer late Mamoni Raisom Goswami also wanted banning animal sacrifice at the Kamakhya temple. Opposing the tradition, she wrote a novel, The Man from Chinnamasta, which delineates the horror and cruelty of animal sacrifice.