After the Telangana agitation, it is the “beef sentiment” that is doing the rounds on the Osmania University campus which has been calm for over eight months since the dilution of the agitation for a separate state.
The flashpoint this time is the demand of 2,000-strong Dalit students of the university for beef to be served in university canteens which is opposed by the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
In protest against the upper class attitude, Dalit students plan to hold a “beef festival” on the campus in April to coincide with the birth anniversary celebrations of Babu Jagjivan Ram on April 5, Dr B R Ambedkar on April 14 and Jyotiba Phule on April 11.
The Dalit students plan to cook beef in the open and serve it to the gathering as an expression of their cultural identity and traditional right.
But the university authorities have refused permission for such a festival in the face of hostile postures by the ABVP.
University Vice-Chancellor S Satyanarayana said the issue was very sensitive and, given the history of caste tensions on the campus, the authorities fear that the issue may become a flashpoint for another bout of campus mob fury.
Dalit campaigners, however, say by denying permission, the university is resorting to cultural imposition on Dalits and treating them as apartheid in their own land.
“Dalit students have a right to practise their food habits as protected under the Constitution,” said Dalit writer and academic Kancha Ilaiah.
At present, chicken, mutton and eggs are served as part of the non-vegetarian menu at the university hostels. The politics of food on the Osmania campus, known as the nerve centre of Telangana movement and also a hotbed of radicalism, has triggered a totally new vista of agitation.
Charging the authorities with imposing a culture of “food fascism” prominent Dalit activist Bojja Tarakam said it was an attempt to lampooning the Dalits in the name of caste and religion.
“Beef has nothing to do with hurting any sentiments as majority of meat eating population in the world, including India, are beef lovers,” he said. The Osmania vice-chancellor has asked senior faculty members to hold talks with the student representatives and sort out the matters amicably.
In the past, there were some instances of scuffle between the ABVP and Dalit students on the issue of organising beef festival on the campus and the event was put off. “In their petition submitted to the vice-chancellor, the Dalit students alleged that their food habits and traditions were being ridiculed and insulted by ABVP members,” said a university spokesman.
In protest against the upper class attitude, Dalit students plan to hold a “beef festival” on the campus in April to coincide with the birth anniversary celebrations of Babu Jagjivan Ram on April 5, Dr B R Ambedkar on April 14 and Jyotiba Phule on April 11.
The Dalit students plan to cook beef in the open and serve it to the gathering as an expression of their cultural identity and traditional right.
But the university authorities have refused permission for such a festival in the face of hostile postures by the ABVP.
University Vice-Chancellor S Satyanarayana said the issue was very sensitive and, given the history of caste tensions on the campus, the authorities fear that the issue may become a flashpoint for another bout of campus mob fury.
Dalit campaigners, however, say by denying permission, the university is resorting to cultural imposition on Dalits and treating them as apartheid in their own land.
“Dalit students have a right to practise their food habits as protected under the Constitution,” said Dalit writer and academic Kancha Ilaiah.
At present, chicken, mutton and eggs are served as part of the non-vegetarian menu at the university hostels. The politics of food on the Osmania campus, known as the nerve centre of Telangana movement and also a hotbed of radicalism, has triggered a totally new vista of agitation.
Charging the authorities with imposing a culture of “food fascism” prominent Dalit activist Bojja Tarakam said it was an attempt to lampooning the Dalits in the name of caste and religion.
“Beef has nothing to do with hurting any sentiments as majority of meat eating population in the world, including India, are beef lovers,” he said. The Osmania vice-chancellor has asked senior faculty members to hold talks with the student representatives and sort out the matters amicably.
In the past, there were some instances of scuffle between the ABVP and Dalit students on the issue of organising beef festival on the campus and the event was put off. “In their petition submitted to the vice-chancellor, the Dalit students alleged that their food habits and traditions were being ridiculed and insulted by ABVP members,” said a university spokesman.
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