This weekend Osmania University will play host to a food festival which is being touted as the “beginning of a revolution.” The Beef Festival to be held at the NRHS hostel on Sunday evening by Dalit students’ associations will see participation from students from different colleges and universities.
A demand by Dalit students to hold a “beef festival” on the Osmania University campus has raised the political temperature at the institution after eight months of calm following the ebbing of the Telangana agitation.
The administration is unwilling to stoke the fires by interfering in the proceedings. A day prior to the festival, which is expected to see participation of around 1,000 people, university authorities remained mum on the issue, while students gave an assurance to police that they would buy meat from outside and not slaughter the animals on the campus.
“We have ample time on hand and we will decide on the steps to be taken by tomorrow,” said the public relations officer at Osmania University, Professor BS Rao.
“We decided to conduct the festival in the month of April specifically as it marks the birth anniversaries of our ideologues including Dr BR Ambedkar (April 14), Jyotiba Phule (April 11) and Babu Jagjivan Ram (April 5). Through this festival we want to dissociate the connotation of ‘dirty food’ associated with beef due to Brahminization of our culture,” said Sudarshan, a research scholar who is part of the organizing committee.
The large segment of dalit students who have planned the festival said they were ready with the two quintals of beef. The festival will be held at Narmada Research Scholars (Ambedkar) Hostel. Not just the strong student community in the campus but a section of faculty and activists from various quarters are likely to participate in the festival. Kancha Ilaiah, S Simhadri, Gali Vinod Kumar and Bhangya Bhukya figure in the list.
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyardhi Parishad handouts condemning the festival even had ‘Chalo NRS Hostel’ as a suggested protest measure. A couple of days ago, VHP had issued a statement saying that the festival would be opposed as it hurts religious sentiments.
Hyderabad University students views :
S Harinath, dalit student union activist from University of Hyderabad (UoH) said that everybody was entitled to express their identity in whichever way possible. “Beef eating is part of the identity of several communities in the country. It is a political act to conduct a beef festival and should be allowed,” said Harinath. The University of Hyderabad has had a beef stall at their annual fest ‘Sukoon’ since 2006. Ambedkar Students’ Association, Dalit Students’ Union, Telangana Students’ Association and Student Federation of India will be participating in the festival.
Last year, too, the Dalit students had planned a beef festival on the campus but were dissuaded. With their number growing from 1,200 last year to 2,000 this year, they are more determined this time.
Dalit writers and activists have rallied behind the students. “Beef is a basic Dalit food, and we want this upper caste hostility towards it to end,” said Kancha Ilaiah, a Dalit ideologue who teaches at the university.
Asked about the difficulty of obtaining permission from the university administration, Sudarshan replied, “Every year we have celebrations for Vinayak Chaturthi, Holi and Vanamahotsavam among others. Who grants permissions for these? In order to sensitize students on campus, we are organizing the programme at the hostel premises and not inside the main mess hall or kitchen where we usually cook food.”
He added that the students’ organizations held talks with the circle inspector as well so that the event passes off without a hitch.
The OU campus has a strength of about 8,000 students, out of which 4,000 were OBCs, 2,000 dalits and 1,000 tribal students. Reports say, if the dalit students conduct the beef festival in College, then it might lead to severe consequences.