Campus Talk | Veg-only tables at IIT-B: Student media body calls it a ‘dangerous precedent’

“It should not set dangerous precedents where personal choices lead to the creation of exclusive spaces for people in the name of inclusivity,” it added.

The decision of earmarking six separate tables for vegetarian food in combined mess of hostels 12, 13 and 14 of the IIT-Bombay by their mess-council sparked a major controversy in the recent past. While many from the institute voiced concerns about the decision; the article by Insight, published Monday night, brought forward the discussion among students on campus examining the far-reaching implications of the decision.

The article pointed to existing examples of inclusivity in hostel messes such as availability of Jain food in messes, the availability of food before sunrise during Ramadan and before sunset during Paryushan. “These services are provided without restricting or infringing on the choices already available to all students. However, making provisions for one group of people is not enough to label our campus “inclusive” and remove our responsibility to be sensitive to the concerns of other groups,” stated the article.

According to Insight, being sympathetic to everyone’s problems and concerns is essential to creating a welcoming campus, but “this sympathy cannot be misplaced”, stated the article.

The student-writers have pointed out that allowing personal choices to influence decisions about common spaces can be misused in various ways. “It could also potentially compromise the integrity of hostel elections as candidates may make promises of segregating common spaces based on personal preferences to garner votes from specific student communities, making student elections more polarised than ever,” states the article.

Insight emphasised on the need to view the decision and the implications it could have through the lens of caste. “The caste implication of the issue was raised by multiple students and discussed in popular media, which requires decision makers to educate themselves instead of ignoring it. It is advisable to look into student feedback and address such concerns in a public forum for sensitive issues,” concluded the article.