More than 30 madrasas in Ujjain have refused to accept mid-day meals for students provided by the Iskcon Temple trust, a Hindu organisation.
These madrasas have said that accepting food from Iskcon temple trust would defile their faith.
According to parents of Muslim students, the trust offers the food first to Hindu gods before sending them to schools, which is unacceptable to them.
Interestingly, Iskcon temple trust has been supplying food to these madrasas since 2010 but they never raised any objection in this regard.
However, these madrasas now say that they can’t accept mid-day meal from Iskcon temple trust any longer.
When the tender of Iskcon ended in July 2016, suppliers BRK Foods and Ma Parvati Foods were roped in to provide the mid-day meals but madrasas have declined to accept food from either of them. BRK supplies mid-day meals to 315 schools, out of which 56 madrasas have turned down their offer.
Parents of madrasa students have also threatened to withdraw their children from those madrasas who accept food from the present suppliers.
They want the madrasas to cook mid-day meal themselves for the students.
According to some media reports, the officials of these madrasas point out that they rejected the meals from Iskcon trust because the students are used to a different kind of food.
The officials added that the matter is currently under examination.
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