Landslides and cloudbursts in Himachal Pradesh are a result of people eating meat, Indian Institute of Technology-Mandi Director Laxmidhar Behera said at an event on Thursday.

In a video that has surfaced on social media, he can also be seen telling students that they should stop eating meat to become good human beings. He then adds that Himachal Pradesh will face a “significant downfall” if animals are butchered.

“That [butchering of animals] has a symbiotic relationship with the degradation of the environment as well, which you cannot see now,” he said. “The mass scale landslides and so many other things, cloudbursts, that you see again and again, these are all the effect of this cruelty.”

Play

His statements have drawn sharp criticism, with the Congress stating that Behera was not fit to hold the position he does.
The party’s General Secretary Jairam Ramesh wrote in a tweet that the longer Behera stayed in office “more the damage he will do to the spirit of scientific temper”.

“Science and spirituality is one thing, but science and crackpot theories that are put out by people in positions of power is quite another,” Ramesh said.

Also read: What makes Indian vegetarians different from Westerners who have given up meat?

In response to Behera’s claims, Ambrish Kumar Mahajan, the dean of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Central University of Himachal Pradesh, told Hindustan Times that the recent natural disasters in the state were a result of geological reasons coupled with anthropogenic factors.

Anthropogenic activities include over exploitation of natural resources by mining, release of industrial waste, incineration of fossil fuel and change in land use.

Mahajan also said that long spells of rain have caused the soil in Himachal Pradesh to supersaturate, leading to landslides.

This isn’t the first time that Behera has attracted criticism for his controversial remarks. In January, he had claimed that his “acts of exorcism” had helped rid his friend’s parents and their apartment of “evil spirits”.

In a five-minute video, Behera narrated that in 1993, he helped his friend with lessons from the Bhagavad Gita and by chanting “Hare Rama, Hare Krishna.

After nearly 15 minutes of chanting, Behera said, he saw his friend’s father performing a “ghastly dance”. “You could feel that he is being completely devoured by the evil spirit,” said Behera.

He later told The Indian Express, “I narrated what I said. Ghosts exist, yes.”