Rajnath to LG: Beef be removed from CW Games menu

Senior BJP leader and former party president Rajnath Singh today urged Delhi Lt Governor Tejender Khanna that the Organising Committee of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games should remove beef from the games' menu and attenuate any possibility of outrage or anger over the issue.

In a letter to the Lt Governor, copies of which were made available to the media, Mr Singh also drew his attention to a resolution adopted by the MCD to keep beef out of the menu for the Games event scheduled for October this year. The resolution reflected the cultural and religious sentiments of the majority of people living in Delhi.

Cow was considered sacred in the country and even the founding fathers of the Constitution had advocated a ban on cow slaughter in Article 48, he asserted.

By removing beef from the menu, the Organising Committee would not only empathise with the popular sentiment, but also save the Commonwealth Games from agitations and other possible controversies, Mr Singh said. ''We at BJP beleive that the guests and participants coming to Delhi for the Games should be given the best of facilities and welcomed with warm hospitality but it does not mean we should ignore the sentiments of our own people,'' he reasoned.