To beef or not to beef? Twitter gives you the answer

The hashtag #BeefBan began trending in the morning replete with tweets outraged over the ban

President Pranab Mukherjee today  gave his nod to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill,  first passed in 1995 by the then Shiv Sena-BJP government, to ban beef in the state.

The move, predictably, did not go down well with meat eaters. Equally predictably, social media across the nation exploded with all the rage, and wit, of those deprived. In only a matter of hours, #beefban overtook #VVIPRacism, which has been trending in the morning, underlining, once again, that Indians care more about food than minor inconveniences such as traffic.  

Of course, it's another matter that restaurants across the nation have been ripping off diners for years by passing off buffalo meat -- which has not been banned -- as beef, the ban on which has been around for decades, except when it is at a fancy place that has an import licence.

Thankfully, most chose wit over anger to express where their gastronomic loyalties lay. At stake, after all, was the one thing Indian consumers just can't get enough of -- choice.  

Here is a look at some of the tweets on the hashtag:   

Some, however, welcomed the move: