Historian Ramachandra Guha has deleted his Twitter post where he had uploaded a picture of him having beef in “BJP-ruled” Goa, saying that “it was in poor taste”.

Guha said he had received threat calls.

“I have deleted the photo of my lunch in Goa as it was in poor taste. I do wish however to again highlight the absolute hypocrisy of the BJP in the matter of beef, and to reiterate my own belief that humans must have the right to eat, dress, and fall in love as they choose,” Guha tweeted.

In the now-deleted tweet, Guha had shared a picture of himself enjoying beef and written: “After a magical morning in Old Goa we had lunch in Panaji, where — since this is a BJP ruled state — I decided to eat beef in celebration.”

Cow slaughter is not banned in Goa, where beef is freely consumed.

Asked by a Twitter user why his earlier tweet was in poor taste, Guha replied: “Putting myself in the centre of the frame was exhibitionist and in poor taste. I could have made the same points in words, as i have done now.”

Guha said he had received threat calls. “I have received threatening calls from a man calling himself Sanjay from Delhi. His number is ************. He threatened my wife as well as me. This is for the record,” the historian and columnist tweeted.

When this correspondent called up the number, it was switched off.

Guha also shared a tweet from one R.K. Yadav, who identifies himself on the social networking site as a former RAW officer.

“This threatening tweet below is from a former official of the Research and Analysis Wing. I would like to place it on record, and will do with every subsequent threat received,” Guha tweeted.

Yadav’s tweet had said: “If a Hindu eating beef & publicise it he is stigma on this religion. One Ramchandra Guha is doing so. He is trying to tease whole of Hindus by this dastardly action of such publicity. Shd be given befitting reply.”

In response to a text message from this newspaper, Guha replied: “Have informed the local police but not lodged a formal complaint.”