Osmania University students to go ahead with beef festival as planned
Hyderabad: Dalit, Left wing and minority student organisations of Osmania University, functioning under the banner of Democratic Cultural Forum, said on Thursday that they will conduct the beef festival as planned on the OU campus on December 10.
This comes a day after the university's public relations office released a statement saying that activities like 'beef festival and 'gow puja' will not be allowed on campus.
Stalin, a DCF member, said, “The university regularly witnesses celebrations of Hindu festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi by students on campus for which they do not seek permission from the university. If they are allowed to celebrate religious festivals then why can't we organise a food fest. Moreover, we did not receive any official notice from the Vice -Chancellor regarding the festival. We came to know about it from the media. We will hold the beef festival and are planning what items will be served, the budget and other arrangements. We are sure that the RSS is trying to block the beef festival. The key person who organising the pork festival is an RSS member.”
The beef festival is not just a one off event. DCF plans to first conduct a round table conference about the beef festival on December 5, followed by a 5K run on December 7.
Students approach SHRC, seek action against MLA
The organisers of OU beef festival have approached the State Human Right Commission, requesting action against Goshamahal MLA T. Raja Singh who is trying to disrupt the event scheduled for December 10. The commission ordered the Hyderabad police commissioner to submit a detailed report by December 7.
The Democratic Cultural Forum, a delegation of 24 student unions from OU submitted a petition to the commission.
The petitioners stated that the beef festival was organised in the past too, but this year, the BJP MLA from Goshamahal Raja Singh is threatening that the Dadri incident would be repeated in Hyderabad if the beef festival is conducted at the University.
“A public representative who has sworn in to uphold the Constitution is instigating people by posting his picture holding a sword in social media. He also gave a call asking the public to disrupt the beef festival,” said the complaint.
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.