India vice president speaks against burger, pizza consumption

INDIAN vice president Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday (28) said consumption of burgers and pizzas is suitable in other countries but not India.

Speaking at an event to mark the inauguration of a new college campus in the northern part of the Indian state of Goa, Naidu underlined the significance of Nature in an era defined by technology and threatened by climate change. According to him, butterfly gardens are as important as information technology tools.

“I am not prescribing a particular food, there are a lot of varieties, thousands of varieties in India. I’m only suggesting to go for cooked food - not stale or frozen food. We must go for organic indigenous food, this burger pizza may be suitable to those countries but not to our country,” the 72-year-old leader, who has been the president of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the past, said.

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“Our forefathers have experienced and they have lived and they have given us a lot of good food. We should see to it that our younger generation follows them,” he said.

The vice president also said that it was imperative to protect Nature in the age of climate change.

“A butterfly garden is as important as the latest IT tools. We must progress but must not ignore nature - nature, culture together for a better future. All those things which are there, mountains, we should not disturb them. Of late, a tendency to encroach upon is increasing that is why all this ruination.

“You see worldwide climate change is there because we did not protect Nature. Nature is showing its fury on us. There is no exception - developed countries, everyone is experiencing it. We must go back to nature,” he added.

Naidu’s words came just days ahead of the crucial climate conference scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, and where India will be among the key participants.

(With agency inputs)