Later, Udit Raj tried to play down the controversy saying that he was not commenting on the ban but was merely repeated what Bolt’s trainer had said and all he meant was the athletes can find a way to excel despite adversities and they should not blame circumstances for failures.
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He posted that Jamaica’s Usain Bolt won nine Olympic medals because the star athlete’s trainer advised him to eat beef.
“My tweet is not even remotely connected to advocate beef eating rather it is reproduction of Bolt trainer statement”.
After the tweet went viral, the Lok Sabha member from Delhi clarified his stand.
“All I wanted to say that giving excuses that we don’t have infrastructure or there is corruption should be done away with and lesson, dedication should be learnt from Usain Bolt”.
“I meant to convey-players & society to look at ways to win in games rather blaming circumstances & Govt & eating is their choice”, he said. News18 later quoted the Delhi legislator as saying that he was in favour of Indians, too, eating beef and that the BJP had never said they should not. “This statement is being issued to elaborate his views on the subject and put an end to this artificially created controversy”, it said.
‘I meant to convey-players & society to look at ways to win in games rather blaming circumstances & Govt & eating is their choice, ‘ he added.
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However, he added: “It is true that in some cases, the government is unable to provide all necessary facilities to budding athletes, but it also true that thousands of recruitments are made by the Government of India, state governments and PSUs to promote sports, and athletes are paid hefty salaries and given all facilities and freedoms to pursue their careers”.
