Barely 30 km from Mayawati's Lucknow, 300 school students in Bibipur village are refusing to eat their midday meal because the cook is a Dalit woman.

For the last four days, district administration and education officials have been visiting the Bibipur Primary School and the Junior High School to persuade the students to eat, but to no avail. Every day, uneaten meals are being thrown away.

On Friday, The Indian Express found barely a hundred students eating the meal, tehri, rice and vegetables cooked together. The rest ate food brought from home, a practice that started on December 10, the day the Dalit woman, Phool Kumari Rawat, started cooking.

Senior students who are boycotting the food say Phool Kumari's cooking is unhygienic. Kaushal Srivastava, Block Resource Centre in-charge, who was present on Friday, told the students that there was nothing wrong with the food. He even ate it in front of them to allay their apprehensions. But the students refused to budge.

Younger students are more direct, readily admitting that it was Phool Kumari's caste that was the problem. "I will not eat anything cooked by that lady. I have heard my family members say that she is from some low caste. So I bring my own lunch box," said Shivani Singh Chauhan, a student of Class IV.

Ateet Kumar, student of Class V, said the school was in a Thakur area and they refuse to eat whatever she cooks. "Only children from Phool Kumari's area are eating," he said.

Both administration officials and the teachers agree that the students are being instigated.

Lucknow District Magistrate Chandra Bhanu is sure "someone is playing politics and instigating the children. I have asked my officers to find out the person and that person will be punished."

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