Laxmipur-1 Member of Parliament Shahadat Hossain Selim has denied the long-circulated claim that residents of Noakhali ate Mahatma Gandhi’s goat. He made the statement on Tuesday while participating in a parliamentary discussion on the motion of thanks to the President’s address. The BNP lawmaker referred to his constituency’s historical background and asserted that the allegation was entirely false.

Selim said that his birthplace, Korpora village in Laxmipur, played a role in the 1946 Pakistan movement and that Gandhi had visited the area to promote peace during communal unrest. Historical accounts mention that Gandhi stayed in Noakhali for four months during the 1946 riots, bringing a goat for milk. A popular story claims that local men stole and cooked the goat, but Selim rejected this version as baseless.

Laxmipur was once part of Noakhali until 1984, when the district was divided to create Feni and Laxmipur. Selim’s remarks aimed to defend the reputation of his region and its people from what he described as a historical misconception.