Beef-heat on ‘The Hindu’: Protesters say media house pretends to be liberal, but has banned meat

They are trying to project ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘tolerance’ but are intolerant about food in their own premises, says an activist.

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Tamil groups and rights organizations protested against The Hindu on Tuesday in Chennai alleging that the media house pretends to be progressive by publishing articles against beef-ban in the country but yet bans non-vegetarian food in its own office premises.

The protest was organized by three organizations, May 17 Movement, Tamizhar Vidudalai Kazhagam and Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam outside the media organization’s office on Mount Road in Chennai.

Thirumurgan, State Organizer of May 17 Movement said, “The Hindu issued a circular asking its employees that non-vegetarian food is banned inside the organization. They also dedicated one of Frontline magazine issues against beef ban. They are trying to project ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘tolerance’ by doing this. But, they are intolerant about food in their own premises.” The circular was issued last year.

He said that the mindset behind it is completely upper-caste imposing its culture onto others. “They are projecting themselves as ‘anti-Hindutva’ or ‘anti-RSS’ and they are pro-beef and all. But this is a pseudo stand that they are taking,” he said.

Talking about the Sri-Lankan issue, he said that the newspaper has always stood with the Sri-Lankan regime. And the Lanka Ratna Award was given to the former editor-in-chief N. Ram. No reports on Sri-Lankan government crimes have appeared on the paper, protesters alleged.

The Hindu Centre is organising a public colloquium on "The Future of Sri Lankan Refugees in India at the Music Academy Mini Hall on November 4. Talking about it, Thirumurgan said, “In the conference, the speaker is MK Narayanan- the former National Security Advisor. During his regime, he has closely worked with the Sri-Lankan government and he was very much involved in their genocide activities. Now, he is talking as if he is a supporter of Eelam Tamil.”

About 50 people were detained by the police at the protest and kept in a community hall in Chintadripet. These activists are also planning to organize protests outside the Music Academy at 6pm on November 4 where The Hindu conference will take place.