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A political row erupted in West Bengal after the BJP-led government introduced a new pilot project removing eggs from the mid-day meals in Kolkata schools.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra. (PTI/File)
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the West Bengal government decided to drop eggs from the mid-day meals at schools under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area, claiming that a majority of Bengalis are non-vegetarians and “do not like soya”.
A political row erupted in West Bengal after the BJP-led government introduced a new pilot project to hand over school mid-day meal preparation in Kolkata to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and replace eggs with vegetarian meals like rajma. The TMC has accused the government of imposing a vegetarian culture in Bengal.
While presenting the state’s first Budget under the new government, Bengal’s Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta announced that the cost for primary school mid-day meals would be increased from Rs 6.78 to Rs 10 per student and that ISKCON would be entrusted with supplying cooked meals under a pilot project in the KMC area.
‘Do Bengalis Know About Rajma?’
Lashing out against the BJP government over the vegetarian mid-day meal menu, Mahua Moitra said most children “do not like soya” and accused the ruling party of forcing vegetarianism in schools.
“Eggs are a class A protein, which means all the amino acids are covered in that. The only non-animal protein which is first class is soya. Our children don’t like soya. When we feed it in schools, they don’t like soya. So here you are, substituting egg,” she said.
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Moitra said 98% of the Bengali population was non-vegetarian and that soy was nutritionally deficient as compared to eggs.
She also questioned why MLAs were not consuming rajma rice. “Why don’t you eat rajma chawal? And what is rajma? Do Bengalis know what rajma is? I didn’t know what rajma was till I went to Delhi. 40% of our school-going children go to school because (eggs are part of) the one nutritious hot meal of the day.”
BJP Vs TMC
The mid-day meal controversy has triggered a slugfest between the rebel faction of the TMC and the BJP. Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee also slammed the move, saying generations of Bengalis have grown up consuming animal protein as part of their regular diet.
However, the BJP and ISKCON defended the move. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said it was aimed at providing students with clean and good-quality food.
Kolkata ISKCON Vice President Radharaman Das also argued that vegetarian foods provided higher protein content compared to eggs. “There is a misconception that nutrition depends only on eggs. Children can receive the required protein and nutrients through pulses, soya products, dairy items and vegetables,” he told PTI.
About the Author
Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master’s in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in int…Read More
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