Osmania University students demand beef in hostel mess

The dalit students in the Osmania University campus has demanded the administration to serve beef in their hostel mess. They even submitted a petition to vice chancellor Satyanarayana, saying that their food culture has been insulted by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

On March 11, the ABVP activists had disrupted the dalit students attempt to cook beef in New Research Scholars Hostel.

Now, the dalit students were planning to hold a beef festival in the premises of Osmania University campus in the month of April against the casteist food culture. "It (beef) is part of our food culture. But the people of other castes has been humiliatng us pointing at our food habits. There were instances were the dalit students have been insulted when they cooked non-vegetarian in hostels during festival days," said a dalit student.

The OU campus has a strength of about 8,000 students, out of which 4,000 were OBCs, 2,000 dalits and 1,000 tribal students. Reports say, if the dalit students conduct the beef festival in College, then it might lead to severe consequences.