NEW DELHI: Acclaimed writer Salman Rushdie has ridiculed the Commonwealth Games as a "great humiliation" for India and suggested that OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot be "severely spanked" for his much-criticised comments on hygiene standards.
"It's been a great humiliation for us all. I feel very embarrassed by it and I''m sure many, many people in India feel the same way," the author of the award-winning Midnight's Children told NDTV.
The October 3 to 14 Games have had a crisis-hit build-up with reports of shoddy construction work, allegations of corruption and concerns about cleanliness at the Games Village making international headlines.
Reacting to the furore surrounding Bhanot's comments that the standard of hygiene was different for different countries, Rushdie said, "that official who claimed that we in India have lower standards of hygiene, he should be spanked very severely.''