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Padma Shri awardee Garikapati Narasimha Rao, popular for his Hindu discourses in the Telugu states, is receiving severe flak for his recent comments mocking the midday meal scheme in government schools. Garikapati, a Brahmin spiritual leader, said that the government should stop providing food, uniforms and textbooks to school-going children, suggesting that children should either bring their own food or drop out of school.
At a recent speech during an event organised by the Mumbai Telugu Samiti and the Federation of Telugu Associations of Maharashtra, Garikapati questioned why the government must provide nutrition, especially eggs, to school-going children.
“Midday meals have become more important than education in schools. People care about whether there is egg… why would you serve egg to someone eating rice, do they not have any sense? Tell students they can stay if they want to study, else leave. Is that why they come to school? For eggs? It’s the teachers’ misfortune that they have to keep account of these eggs,” Garikapati said. He also derisively referred to the egg served to poor students as ‘donkey eggs’.
He said that children should bring their own food or quit school. “They give kids food, uniforms, books – will he study if you give him all these things? He will sit in bed like a groom on his wedding night. Why would he study? Do students need so many facilities? No one is getting educated, they’re only getting food,” Garikapati said. He went on to say that the government doesn’t have enough money to pay midday meal workers.
“Spend your own money for your education, eat your own food, wear your own clothes, study if you like. I say this since my words will reach authorities in both Telugu states. The government’s job is to provide a good education, not to provide books, uniforms, and food,” Garikapati said, followed by applause.
“No one has the courage to say, we will give you a good education, come to us if you trust us, else leave. Because everyone wants to be re-elected,” he said.
Garikapati’s comments on the midday meal scheme, which has been proven to improve nutrition and school attendance among children, have been strongly criticised by various groups.
Bharat Rastra Samithi (BRS) leader and former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar, who is credited with vastly improving the Telangana government’s social welfare residential schools under his leadership, said that Garikapati’s comments reflect the attitude of dominant castes towards the education and nutrition of the poor that has been the norm for generations.
“Others pretend otherwise, but Garikapati didn’t,” he said.
“It is not just Garikapati’s nonsensical rhetoric that is distressing; I also feel pity for the fools who applaud him while he delivers such self-satisfied, hollow discourses,” Praveen Kumar said.
He also mentioned that Garikapati was unlikely to face any consequences for his remarks from the police, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), or the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The Andhra Pradesh unit of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) also condemned Garikapati’s remarks and demanded an apology from him.
“To say that children come to school only for eggs and not education hurts the self-esteem of poor students. Many international studies have shown that the mid-day meal helps reduce dropouts. Comparing students to a bridegroom is denigrating to students,” SFI said in a statement.
The organisation also said that calling the food provided in the midday meal a “donkey egg” is an insult to the hunger of the many malnutritioned children in India.
Many others also condemned his remarks, including Telangana Education Commission Member Jyotsna Shiva Reddy, and Andhra Pradesh State Food Commission Chairman Chitha Vijay Prathap Reddy.
Garikapati’s team issued a statement reacting to the controversy, claiming that his remarks were being distorted and taken out of context.
“All the poor people have been influenced by guruvu garu's (Garikapati’s) speeches to be excited and inspired about Hinduism. Unable to digest this, some fools are spreading evil propaganda to alienate him from the poor,” the statement said.
Garikapati holds significant cultural influence in the Telugu states, despite a history of making casteist, misogynist remarks which he has never rescinded or apologised for.
