Dharwad: A section of Lingayat seers has said they will protest if the state government does not withdraw its decision to supply eggs for mid-day meals.
Dayanand Swami, the convenor of the All-India Vegetarian Federation, a forum of Lingayat seers, told mediapersons on Wednesday that the government has to withdraw the decision before December 19. If the government proceeds with the decision, a convention of Lingayat seers will be held in front of the Suvarna Vidhan Soudha in Belagavi on December 20 and there will be protests, he said.
The seer said that in 1991 the S Bangarappa government and in 2007 the H D Kumaraswamy government withdrew the decision to serve eggs to schoolchildren for mid-day meals.
The seers have accused the government of taking commission from poultry owners to distribute eggs in schools and demanded a CBI investigation.
Dayanand Swami said that with a pretext of malnutrition, the government was misguiding Lingayats, Brahmins, Vaishyas, Jain and other communities, who are vegetarian, to break their age-old traditions and customs. Was malnutrition only there in Karnataka, the land of Lord Basavanna, he asked.
The decision to end malnutrition was good but were eggs the only solution to this, he asked. He said nutritional vegetables could be given to the schoolchildren.
He said he had nothing against non-vegetarians or the government, but against those trying to break traditions and customs. “It is unfortunate that eggs will be supplied in schools which are temples of learning. Should the teacher engage classes or keep busy boiling eggs?” he asked.
Nearly 80 per cent of educational institutions in Karnataka are run by mutts and temples and this is a systematic conspiracy to spoil the sanctity of the mutts, Dayanand Swamy said.
The government should immediately withdraw this decision and provide vegetables to children, not eggs. If the government continues with its decision, it will face the ire of the seers and the people, he warned.
Dayanand Swami, the convenor of the All-India Vegetarian Federation, a forum of Lingayat seers, told mediapersons on Wednesday that the government has to withdraw the decision before December 19. If the government proceeds with the decision, a convention of Lingayat seers will be held in front of the Suvarna Vidhan Soudha in Belagavi on December 20 and there will be protests, he said.
The seer said that in 1991 the S Bangarappa government and in 2007 the H D Kumaraswamy government withdrew the decision to serve eggs to schoolchildren for mid-day meals.
The seers have accused the government of taking commission from poultry owners to distribute eggs in schools and demanded a CBI investigation.
Dayanand Swami said that with a pretext of malnutrition, the government was misguiding Lingayats, Brahmins, Vaishyas, Jain and other communities, who are vegetarian, to break their age-old traditions and customs. Was malnutrition only there in Karnataka, the land of Lord Basavanna, he asked.
The decision to end malnutrition was good but were eggs the only solution to this, he asked. He said nutritional vegetables could be given to the schoolchildren.
He said he had nothing against non-vegetarians or the government, but against those trying to break traditions and customs. “It is unfortunate that eggs will be supplied in schools which are temples of learning. Should the teacher engage classes or keep busy boiling eggs?” he asked.
Nearly 80 per cent of educational institutions in Karnataka are run by mutts and temples and this is a systematic conspiracy to spoil the sanctity of the mutts, Dayanand Swamy said.
The government should immediately withdraw this decision and provide vegetables to children, not eggs. If the government continues with its decision, it will face the ire of the seers and the people, he warned.
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