Bengal eggs row: Is BJP imposing vegetarianism on children? | AI With Sanket

The West Bengal government's decision to hand over its mid-day meal programme to ISKCON — effectively removing eggs from school plates — is "nothing but petty politics", said Touseef Ahmed Khan, political analyst, adding that ISKCON was being made a scapegoat to serve the BJP's vote bank interests. The controversy has erupted barely weeks after the newly-installed BJP government announced its first Budget, triggering a fierce debate about nutrition, ideology, and broken electoral promises in the land of fish.

On AI With Sanket episode, The Federal spoke to Tamal Saha, senior journalist, and Khan, to examine whether the decision is a genuine nutritional reform or a slow, subtle push for vegetarianism in West Bengal's government schools.

'Before Election and After Result'

The announcement came not at a formal press conference, but during a post-budget media interaction, when Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said ISKCON would be entrusted with cooking and supplying mid-day meals to schools under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area as a pilot project. Adhikari reportedly told reporters, "You will get good and pure food," and added that nobody was being asked to chant "Hare Krishna".

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But the timing has not gone unnoticed. In the run-up to the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections, BJP leaders were widely photographed eating fish with their bare hands — vermilion on their foreheads, sacred threads around their wrists — in a deliberate attempt to signal cultural alignment with Bengali voters.

"Before the election, the BJP had literally gone across the state with fish in their hands," said Saha. "After the elections — egg ban."

Saha drew a pointed parallel: just as the world has BC and AD, West Bengal now seems to have BE and AR — Before Election and After Result — with policies dictated accordingly.

'Remove fish from Maa Aahar canteen menu'

ISKCON's strictly vegetarian kitchen means no eggs, no onion, no garlic. The menu under the pilot project would consist of rice, dal, khichdi, vegetables, soya chunks, and lentils. ISKCON's then-spokesperson Radharaman Das had argued that vegetarian food could adequately meet children's protein requirements. However, ISKCON subsequently placed him on compulsory leave of absence and directed him not to represent the organisation before the media or government authorities.

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Saha pointed out the contradiction at the heart of the government's position: while ISKCON would serve vegetarian food in schools under the pilot project, the BJP government has simultaneously kept fish on the menu at the renamed Maa Aahar canteen — the state-run subsidised meal scheme earlier set up by the Mamata Banerjee government — at Rs 5 per plate on at least two days a week.

"If ISKCON food is so healthy and delicious, let them start serving food at the state secretariat, the MLA hostel, and the assembly," Saha said.

'Nothing but petty politics'

Khan was direct in his statement, "The eggs being taken away from mid-day meals is nothing but petty politics on behalf of BJP, where they are only trying to appease their vote bank and making ISKCON a scapegoat."

He noted that ISKCON, as a strictly vegetarian organisation, cannot serve eggs — and that handing the contract to ISKCON was therefore a deliberate choice to eliminate eggs from the menu without having to say so explicitly.

Khan also raised questions about the process. No tender appears to have been issued.

"Why exclude the Gurudwara? So many other religious organisations also distribute free food. Why only ISKCON?" he asked.

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He argued that the absence of a competitive tendering process itself revealed the government's intent.

"Even a Class 10 student would understand that by outsourcing this catering service to ISKCON, the government has a hidden agenda."

Khan also connected the decision to the political fragility of the Suvendu Adhikari government.

"Suvendu Adhikari himself said he will work to bring stability to the BJP government in Bengal," he said, noting that election petitions are pending and allegations of electoral irregularities remain in public discourse. Keeping the RSS and BJP's core vote bank satisfied is therefore a political necessity for the chief minister, Khan argued.

The nutrition question

Both panellists agreed that the core question must remain nutritional.

"Food for children must be judged only on the parameter of nutrition — not ideology," said Khan.

Saha echoed this, noting that the children availing mid-day meals come from backward communities for whom food itself is the incentive to attend school.

"Children getting vegetarian food or non-vegetarian food is never a choice for people coming from a backward community. For them, the priority is to get food."

Also Read: Rahul slams Modi, MP CM over mid-day meals served on newspapers in Sheopur school

The cost dimension compounds the concern. The government allocates Rs 10 per plate. Saha noted that at that price point, eggs represent one of the most affordable, high-protein options available.

Comparing the menu to Virat Kohli's vegan diet, Saha said, "Virat Kohli has turned vegan but he can afford a diet which suits his body and caters to his nutrition quotient. These children do not have that choice."

'Let children have choices'

Saha argued that ISKCON could have offered its services as a parallel, supplementary effort rather than replacing the government's existing programme.

"Serving food is the government's responsibility — not ISKCON's. The choice you make while outsourcing your responsibility reflects your intention."

Khan drew a further comparison. The same BJP government that criticises the Missionaries of Charity for allegedly using food to influence people has handed an exclusive contract — without a tender — to a single religious organisation.

"Is the government walking the same path?" he asked.

Also Read: TN mid-day meals: Nutrition is paramount, says Justice Chandru as activists oppose centralised kitchen idea

Both panellists agreed on a solution: open the outsourcing to multiple players, including non-vegetarian catering services, and let children have choices.

"Imagine the situation in schools where children will have choices — and it will be all about good nutrition," said Sanket Upadhyay.

Saha summed it up, "It is about the ideology that ISKCON carries. When the chief minister says you need not say 'Hare Krishna, Hare Ram' but have the food — you are essentially escorting ISKCON's identity into the mid-day meal. The food being served by ISKCON can also be seen as prasad. That is the problem. Because the mid-day meal is not served to Hindu children alone."

(The content above has been transcribed from video using a fine-tuned AI model. To ensure accuracy, quality, and editorial integrity, we employ a Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) process. While AI assists in creating the initial draft, our experienced editorial team carefully reviews, edits, and refines the content before publication. At The Federal, we combine the efficiency of AI with the expertise of human editors to deliver reliable and insightful journalism.)