Exclusion of beef biryani: Tirupattur collector pulled up for caste discrimination
Chennai: The State Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Commission has come down heavily on Tirupattur district Collector Amar Khushwaha on the beef controversy that erupted when the administration had planned to hold an ‘Ambur Biryani Festival 2022’ in May this year with the view to popularizing the culinary delight of the region and also push for its geographical Indication status.
The Commission mandated that beef biriyani should not be excluded from the menu of government biriyani festivals, pointing out that doing so would amount to discrimination which the district administration should avoid practicing and intimated the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and all top officials in the districts of the order.
Reacting to the Collector mentioning about ‘pork biriyani’ in his reply to the notice sent by the Commission, it said that pork was not used for preparing biriyani and that the Collector had invoked the idea with a view to gaining the support of the Muslim population that did not, anyway, work.
Objecting to the interview given by Khushwaha to an English newspaper that an explanation sought from him by the Commission on excluding beef biriyani from the menu of the festival showcasing 20 varieties of biryani was infructuous since he had cancelled the festival citing rains as a reason, the Commission said it refrained from taking action against him as it did not want the people to lose the respect they had for the post that he held in the administration.
The complaint to the Commission was raised by VCK’s Labour Liberation Front leader, C Omprakasam, who said that about 2 lakh Dalits lived in and around Ambur and shunning beef, their staple food, in a government festival amounted to imposing culinary untouchability on them. He pointed out that such a situation, created by government officials who are mandated to fight untouchability, was a sort of psychological violence against Dalits.
The Collector stirred the hornet’s nest at a consultative meeting held with local leaders of the district in connection with the holding of the Ambur biryani festival showcasing 20 varieties of biryani between May 13 and 15, by making it clear that beef biriyani would not be made available and then following it up with a clear mention of his stand without citing the reason in a press release issued subsequently.
Terming the Collector’s stand as ‘food untouchability’ against the Scheduled Caste people, Dalit organisations in Ambur raised a banner of protest and also threatened to open beef biriyani stalls opposite to the food festival venue besides Omprakasam writing to the Commission, which took up the matter for consideration and issued the orders.
