For rightwing groups affiliated with the Sangh Parivar, Kerala has a dubious reputation as far as the consumption of beef goes. The liberal attitude of major political and social groups toward beef consumption has repeatedly been criticised by rightwingers.
Now, a group of north Indian students at an engineering college in Alappuzha district has complained that they were deliberately served beef cutlets at a seminar. The students of the Cochin University College of Engineering Kuttanad (CUCEK) filed a complaint with the district magistrate on Saturday.
The complainants are reportedly associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarti Parishad, the BJP's student wing. They claim the authorities had assured them the cutlets were vegetarian when they had enquired. Some of the students claimed they started feeling uneasy after eating the snacks.
They have accused the principal of offending their religious sentiments. The students claim the principal, Sunil Kumar N., had even barred them from conducting Saraswati Puja, when it coincided with a strike by the ABVP.
Responding to the complaints, the principal claimed the seminar, and the snacks for it, were arranged by outside agencies, with no involvement from the college.
(With agency inputs)
