Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], July 15 : A major controversy erupted in Lucknow after the King George's Medical University (KGMU) issued strict instructions prohibiting the preparation and serving of non-vegetarian food in all its hostel messes, including those run privately by students.
The university's decision follows reports that Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel had expressed concerns over non-vegetarian food being served on the campus.
Providing details on the administration's move, Kumar Shantanu, Media Co-in-charge of KGMU, stated that while university-managed messes were already vegetarian, the restriction has now been extended to student-run cooperative messes.
"Approximately 18 messes are operating on the KGMU campus. The Governor received information that non-vegetarian food was being cooked and served there. Regarding the messes directly managed by KGMU, it is absolutely clear that non-vegetarian food has never been cooked or served there. It was clarified that this was happening in private or cooperative messes run by the students themselves. Following the Governor's remarks, strict instructions have been issued prohibiting non-vegetarian food in those messes, effective immediately. If any violation is found hereafter, strict action will be taken," Shantanu said.
The move has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP), National Spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chaand, who labelled the decision as "autocratic" and questioned the lack of a formal written order.
"In government administration, official directives are not issued verbally. If an order is to be given, it must be in writing. Issuing dictates on what people should eat or drink amounts to an arbitrary, autocratic decree. If the KGMU university administration complies with it, the Samajwadi Party believes this constitutes a violation of both the Constitution and the law," Chaand asserted.
Opposing the ban, Islamic scholar Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali urged the KGMU administration to reconsider, citing health reasons. "More than 61 per cent of Indians are non-vegetarian. From a medical standpoint, non-vegetarian food is beneficial for human health and helps boost immunity. Making such a decision at a prestigious medical college like KGMU sends a very wrong message," he noted.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supported the university's authority to set its own rules. BJP MP Dinesh Sharma said, "Different educational institutions have their own distinct policies. It is ultimately the prerogative of the university to decide what kind of food arrangements to make for the students, often taking into account the dietary preferences of the majority of the student body. This should not be turned into a matter of controversy."
Meanwhile, Maulana Yaqoob Abbas termed it an "internal arrangement", stating that students who wish to consume non-vegetarian food are free to do so outside the campus.