India’s Muslim-majority islands slam meat-free school meals
Lakshadweep locals accuse authorities of ‘culture attack’ with reforms
Locals in India’s Muslimmajority archipelago of Lakshadweep, near the southern state of Kerala, on Wednesday decried a move to ban meat items from midday meals in schools, terming the measure and other controversial reforms as “anti-culture.”
On Tuesday, the administration in the usually tranquil group of islands urged the Kerala High Court (KHC) to lift a June 22 stay on two orders introduced in Lakshadweep by the Union Territory’s (UT) new administrator, Praful Khoda Patel.
These include removing beef and other meat items from midday meals served at public schools and the closure of dairy farms.
Locals are complaining that the latest policies initiated by Patel are blatantly anti-Muslim and threaten the peace of the archipelago, accusing the government of “playing politics.”
“Children have been given highprotein, non-vegetarian food for years, which comes under the budget. Then why ban them?” Dr. P. Koya, former provincial commissioner and a leader of the “Save
Lakshadweep Campaign,” told Arab News.
“There is some motivation behind the move. Why were no local stakeholders taken into confidence? This is a disrespect to democracy,” Dr. Koya said, adding that the administration “does not have a scientific mind.”
Local officials were unavailable for comment when contacted by Arab News on Wednesday.
However, on Tuesday, the administration justified the meat ban by saying that islanders needed more fruit and dry fruits.
“As meat and chicken are normally part of the regular menu in almost all Lakshadweep families, the UT administration decided to omit them and instead provide fruit and dry fruit, which are consumed less by the islanders,” the government told the KHC.
Dr. Koya rejected the reasoning, arguing: “How can you replace highprotein meat dishes with fruits? I feel the administrator is implementing the agenda of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by banning beef and provoking the local population.”
Lakshadweep is a UT run by an administrator appointed by the central government.
Only 10 of its 36 islands, which are spread across a 32-square-km area in the Arabian Sea, are inhabited.
Muslims account for over 95 percent of the islands’ 70,000-strong population. Kerala, the closest Indian state, is 240 km away.
Since India’s independence in 1947, the archipelago administration was overseen by a bureaucrat until December last year, when the ruling BJP government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appointed Patel as its administrator.
Patel was Modi’s home minister in the western Indian state of Gujarat before Modi became prime minister in 2014.
In the five months since taking up his position, Patel has announced a series of decisions that have sparked controversy.