Bengaluru: A BJP lawmaker has stoked controversy with his insensitive statement on the flood furry that ravaged the entire state of Kerala.

Basangouda Patil Yatnal has opined that the catastrophe struck Kerala due to cow slaughtering and that the state was suffering the consequences of “hurting Hindu sentiment”.

“Slaughtering cows is against the feelings of the Hindu community. One should not hurt the feelings of other religions. Now you see what happened to Kerala, they openly slaughtered cows and you see in less than one year they’ve come to this stage,” he said adding that whoever hurts the feelings of Hindus will be punished this way.

Yatnal also said that the state was paying price for the beef festival that was held about a year ago by Kerala legislators in the state assembly canteen to protest against a central government order banning cattle slaughter.

Yatnal has been notorious for making controversial statements. Recently he had said that he would have intellectuals killed for they were dangerous. Yatnal, who had quit the BJP a few years ago, made a comeback just before the Karnataka polls this year.