Even as a group of students decides to hold a ‘pork festival’ in Osmania University on December 10, the day of the proposed ‘beef festival’, the university is in the middle of a controversy. Tension prevails in the university as a clash among the student groups may not be ruled out.
The organisers say the pork festival has nothing to do with the beef festival and the event is being organised only to highlight the nutritional value of pork and its commercial potentials.
“The festival aims to highlight that pig-rearing provides livelihood to certain communities. It is also a nutritious food,” says Solanki Srinivas, one of the leaders of the student group. Dismissing the charge that the event is planned only to counter the beef festival, he says: “You eat your food. We eat ours…”
Meanwhile, a group led by a local BJP MLA has vowed to disrupt the beef festival.
“Organising a beef festival on the university campus is against the traditions of the college and harms the faith of the majority Hindu community students, teachers and also disturbs the education environment,” Raja Singh, BJP MLA from Goshamahal, said. He appealed to in-charge vice-chancellor Ranjeev Acharya to cancel the event and urged her to take action against the organisers.
“Dadri will repeat here if they conduct the beef festival,” Singh warned, referring to the lynching of 52-year-old Mohammad Ikhlaq in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri recently.
Dalit and Left wing student groups who are organising the beef festival have lodged a complaint against Singh in the local police station, accusing him of disrupting peace in the campus.
