Paul McCartney (top) and Linda

London, Jan. 4: Paul McCartney has written to Manmohan Singh urging him to show compassion towards animals by declaring a “Vegetarian Day” in India.

The former Beatle is well meaning to be sure but may have forgotten that millions of Indians are so poor that without their wanting it every day is “Vegetarian Day” for them — or that a significant proportion of Indians are strict vegetarians anyway.

The receipt of McCartney’s letter has not yet been confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office — it could be the post office in Delhi (as in Calcutta) is short staffed or that its employees are lazy (as in Calcutta again).

News that McCartney had sent the letter was confirmed by the UK office of Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

In his letter addressed to “Dear Dr Prime Minister,” McCartney began: “India has held a very special place in my heart since my first visit to your country many years ago (a reference to his trip with fellow Beatles to Rishikesh in the 1960s). I also respect the work done by Peta India, which in the coming year will celebrate 11 years of bringing relief to working (for) animals, promoting the sterilisation and homing of street dogs and championing alternatives to the use of animals for food, clothing, experimentation and entertainment.”

He went on: “This year, I narrated a shocking exposé of the meat industry titled ‘Glass Walls’. The video takes the viewer behind the closed doors of slaughterhouses, where millions of cattle, chickens, pigs and other animals meet a frightening, bloody end. What you see on the screen goes against our cherished ideals of peace and non-violence and makes a mockery of ahimsa, India’s wonderful core doctrine. Now Peta India is releasing ‘Glass Walls’ in your country.”

The letter continued: “I hope you will take a few minutes to watch it and recommend it to others. Were it to be shown in every school, I have no doubt that the next generation would fully embrace vegetarianism.”

McCartney added: “I have one more thing to most respectfully ask you. Would you please think about declaring one day every year — perhaps January 12, the anniversary of Peta India’s founding — a day to celebrate vegetarianism and compassion towards animals? Such a declaration would save countless animals, reduce the environmental devastation caused by the meat industry and help participants clear their arteries and their consciences. It would be a celebration of life — all life. I look forward to returning to India. Thank you for your consideration.”

McCartney’s appeal will have to be given serious consideration by the Prime Minister because of the musician’s iconic status across the globe.

Peta said that its India office had suggested that “the national meat-free day could be called Shakahar Jayanti, not only because it’s the group’s birthday but also because India is considered the birthplace of vegetarianism”.

Back in 2003, the UN food agency estimated that “42 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion people were vegetarian, mostly because of financial and religious concerns”. But that proportion has probably been dropping due to growing affluence.

At one point, former US President George W. Bush even complained that Americans were eating less meat because Indians were eating more.

To be fair to McCartney, now 68, he has not jumped aboard a trendy bandwagon — he has been a practising vegetarian for four decades. His aversion to meat was something he shared with his late wife, Linda McCartney.

In 1992, he explained in one interview: “For us going veggie was really only down to one thing — that Linda and I both grew up being mad-keen nature-lovers.”

He went on: “Then, when we got married, Linda started saying, ‘Let’s go to the countryside, let’s get out of London,’ so we’d drive an hour out, just anywhere.

“Anyway, I had a farm in Scotland which I didn’t really like. I’d never really fixed it up at all. So Linda said to me that we could do the place up, take down the old shed and re-do all the walls.”

Recalling the moment they saw the light, he disclosed: “Anyway, one day we were having Sunday lunch — we were still meat-eaters, just building a home with the kids and that — and Linda was a really good meat cook. We were eating roast lamb for Sunday lunch and it was the lambing season and there were all these beautiful little lambs gambolling around. Then we just looked at the lamb on our plate and looked at them outside again and thought ‘We’re eating one of those little things that is gaily running around outside.’ It just struck us, and we said, ‘Wait a minute maybe we don’t want to do this.’ And that was it, that was the big turning point and we said we’d give up meat.”

From that point onwards, they became veggie warriors. Now McCartney wants Manmohan Singh, a fellow vegetarian, to be one, too.