Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said beef festivals and Kiss of Love protests at universities were “unhealthy trends”, reported the Hindustan Times. “If they like a particular food and want to celebrate it, they can have private parties separately,” he said. “They do not have to make it a public issue on the campus.”

The vice president made the remarks at the diamond jubilee celebrations of National Institute of Technology in Telangana’s Warangal. In 2015, students of Osmania University in Hyderabad were denied permission to organise a beef festival on campus.

He also spoke about the Kiss of Love protests organised by students and youngsters in recent years to protest against moral policing. “If you want to do kissing, go and do it in your rooms, why in public?” he asked. “This is not our culture.”

The vice president said it was reprehensible to see people fight in the name of caste and religion. “There is no place for religious or caste intolerance in India,” Naidu said. “Religion is personal and a way of life. We need to live with mutual respect towards our religion and culture.”

The vice president said science and technology should result in the betterment of human condition and innovation in technology was the need of the hour to make India a global economic power. “India is committed to building a five trillion-dollar economy by 2025, making India the third largest consumer market in the world,” he added. “If India has to sustain the growth, it has to go for an innovation overdrive, as it cannot afford to be obsolete anymore.”

Naidu said the National Institute of Technology and similar institutions must collaborate with the government and encourage students to take up projects concerning rural India, reported Telangana Today. “Study the problems of the people and come up with innovative, cost-effective solutions in areas relating to drinking water, health, transportation and education,” he added.