Clashes erupt at Indian university over meat served during Hindu festival

Hundreds of students held street demonstrations in New Delhi on Monday after clashes between two student unions over the serving of meat at a prestigious university on the Hindu festival of Ram Navami.

At least 16 students were injured in clashes, after students belonging to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student political wing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party allegedly stopped students from eating meat at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University on Sunday.

Members of a left-wing student organisation alleged that the ABVP members had demanded a student dining hall change the menu on the occasion of Ram Navami and stopped students from eating food containing meat or meat products.

Ram Navami is a major Hindu festival to mark the birth of Hindu deity Lord Ram and many believers observe a fast for a period of eight days while hosting special prayers and a vegetarian feast on the concluding day.

“We received information that some ABVP students threatened the mess manager to stop cooking non-vegetarian meal, shooed away the chicken vendor and attacked mess committee members,” N Sai Balaji, President of All India Students Association, said.

Hundreds of students affiliated with left-leaning student unions on Monday held protests against alleged police complacency during Sunday’s violence.

Demonstrators rallied outside the police station in central Delhi and demanded action against the assailants.

The ABVP, however, rejected the claims, saying the student groups had stopped them from performing a Ram Navami prayer on the campus.

Footage from the campus shared on social media showed injured students and several others carrying saffron flags as they clashed with other students.

The police have registered cases against unknown students on complaints of both student groups, as well as the ABVP.

An arch decorated with Hindu deities, leading to a temple in Udupi district, Karnataka state, India. AP

Over the years, Jawaharlal Nehru University has become a battlefield for left and right-wing student unions, particularly over hosting events in the disputed Kashmir region and a controversial law that allowed persecuted religious migrants from neighbouring countries to take Indian citizenship — except Muslims.

Many left-leaning students have been jailed on charges of sedition.

The latest violence comes amid growing tensions in the country over banning of halal products and total prohibition of meat during the Ram Navami festival.

“There should not be any conflict over consumption of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food and everyone should respect each other,” Ramdas Athawale, an ally of the BJP, told local media.

Last week, one of Hundreds of students held street demonstrations in New Delhi on Monday after clashes between two student unions over serving of meat at a prestigious university on the Hindu festival of Ram Navami.

Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history

Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.

Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)

A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.

Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)

Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.

Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)

Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.