Eggs to go off school menus, West Bengal’s Hindutva agenda will deprive children of vital nutrition
· Scroll
The latest debate over eggs being dropped from school midday meals in West Bengal reflects yet another attempt to ideologically reshape India’s diverse food habits while disregarding the health of children from poor families.
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Earlier in June, the new West Bengal government, now ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, said it would hand over the preparation of school meals to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON, a Hindu religious organisation.
A spokesperson of the organisation said eggs will be replaced with alternatives such as soybeans, rajma and paneer. Hindutva supporters say the alternatives provide adequate nutrition. But others, including Opposition leaders, have criticised Hindutva supporters for redefining what Indians should eat according to ideological preferences rather than nutritional needs or cultural realities.
Other Indian states had dropped eggs from their midday meal programmes long before West Bengal. In 2015, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh refused to include eggs in school meals. In 2025, Maharashtra withdrew government funding for eggs and millet-based sweet dishes in school midday meals.
Since the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, debates over food have moved well beyond questions of diet or health. Beef bans have devastated the livelihoods of Muslims, Dalits, and communities dependent on cattle trade and leather industries. Vigilante violence in the name of cow protection has...