The aroma of eggs, chicken curry, and ragi mudde wafted through the venue of the 87th Akhila Bharatha Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Mandya, drawing crowds to a meal served by protesters on the final day of the festival. The protest, which challenged the festival’s prohibition on meat, marked the first time in the event's history, since its inception in 1915, that meat-based dishes were served at the venue.
Food turned into a huge controversy in the days ahead of the 87th edition of the festival, which was held from December 20 to 22 in Mandya town, which is known for “baaDooTa” which translates to meat meals.
There was an uproar in Mandya when it was discovered that festival organisers - the Karnataka Sahitya Parishat and the district administration - had clubbed meatarian food along with alcohol and tobacco as items prohibited at the venue. The rules, which were uploaded on the Parishat website were removed, but they sparked protests from progressive groups in Mandya, who argued that the idea that meatarian fare was somehow ‘inferior’ needed to be countered.
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On Sunday, December 22, the same group organised meat meals for about 500 and served them at the official dining hall of the venue. “People enjoyed it. Nobody objected to the food being served there. This shows that the majority of the people attending the festival would have gladly eaten meatarian food,” said Krishnegowda, district secretary of the CPI(M) and one of the organisers of the meatarian food.
Festival organisers had held three meetings with the protestors chaired by district in-charge minister N Cheluvarayaswamy. At the first meeting, organisers outright refused to allow meat to be served, Krishnegowda, who attended the meetings, said. By the last meeting, a day before the literature festival started, they agreed to serve eggs.
“But despite this decision, neither the district administration nor the food committee showed any preparedness to implement the decision, and so we decided to go ahead with our decision to serve some of the traditional chicken dishes of Mandya,” Krishnegowda said.
The official dinner served by the organisers included boiled eggs for all participants.