‘Religious discrimination’: Bengal dining hall plan for Muslim-majority schools sparks outrage

A directive to build dining rooms in state-run schools with over 70 percent Muslim students in West Bengal has sparked a political row, with the Bharatiya Janata Party claiming the move is Muslim appeasement.

A directive from the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led government, shared on social media, shows the Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department (MAMED) is seeking a list of government schools with over 70 percent minority students to build dining halls for mid-day meals. Hindus make up the majority of the West Bengal population, and about 20 percent of the population is Muslim. 

Bengal’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Dilip Ghosh questioned why the government was creating “discrimination between the students on the basis of religion” and asked whether there was “some other malafide motive” or “conspiracy” going on. 

Amid outrage, the government clarified that the move is part of an ongoing Minority Affairs project to upgrade infrastructure in minority schools. The funding is sanctioned by the Minority Affairs department, and so it is only possible in schools with minority student bodies, Minister for Minority Affairs Giasuddin Mollah said. 

The chief minister Mamata Banerje, though, told reporters it was an old circular that was withdrawn, but was somehow “dredged up.”

“It was not supposed to divide students in any way. This was supposed to be for schools which don’t have dining halls, for schools where students have to eat in the open,” she said.

BJP’s national spokesperson Narasimha Rao condemned the government and accused Banerjee of attempting to do “minority appeasement politics.”  

“Students cannot be discriminated on the basis of religion,” said Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sujan Chakraborty on the controversy. “If a dining hall is being created it should be for all.”

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