Rejecting BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's call for a change in Goa's beef-eating tradition, a state party spokesperson on Friday said the statement was Swamy's "personal stand" and not the party's position on the issue.

Asked to react to a Congress party demand asking Goa's BJP leaders to openly condemn Swamy's comments, party spokesperson Dattaprasad Naik said: "I don't think this is an issue at all in Goa. All communities live in harmony in Goa. It is probably his personal stand. It is not the party's stand."

Last week during a national TV debate on the ongoing beef ban controversy, Swamy said that Goa had a beef-eating tradition, which needed to be changed.

More than a third of the BJP-ruled state's population comprises minorities and eating beef is a common practice among the majority of the Christian and Muslim communities as well as among thousands of tourists who frequent the coastal state.