Social media wrath pushes IIT Madras to take down 'untouchability' posters

The IIT Madras's mess monitoring committee on Friday removed posters earmarking separate entry points and wash basins for vegetarian and non-vegetarian students inside a mess on the campus. Pictures of the posters had gone viral on social media with a section of students calling it an act of 'untouchability'.

Controversy erupted after Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC), a student body of the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras), posted pictures of posters earmarking separate entry points, wash basins and utensils for vegetarian and non-vegetarian students at the North Indian mess located on the second floor of Himalaya Mess Complex, on their social media page.

"Upper-caste households in India would usually have two entrances — one for the upper castes and the other one at the back for the 'impure' lower castes. A mess in IIT Madras now has the same system. This mess has separate entrances for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Not just that, separate wash basins and separate utensils as well. What started as a demand for 'pure' vegetarian mess has become full-fledged untouchability. IIT Madras is trying to become a world-class institute, but the culture inside is still regressive in many aspects," APSC wrote in the Facebook post.

ChintaBar, an independent student body recognised by IIT Madras, also condemned the newly introduced segregation system. "This separation has been organised based on a heinous principle of purity prevalent in the caste system and has no place in modern society," it said.

The institution usually has nine fully-functional messes, with one of them serving exclusively vegetarian food. Since many students vacated the hostels for holidays, the vegetarian mess was closed and only three messes were functioning.

In a mail to IIT-M students, hostel affairs secretary Nihal K blamed the caterer for pasting such posters in the mess without the committee's knowledge and added that the posters were removed from the facility as soon as the error pointed out.

"It has been brought to our attention that a certain poster detailing an area of wash basin to be earmarked for vegetarian students was found in RRC mess, Himalaya hostel. The caterer has been instructed to remove the poster immediately," he said in the mail. He also apologised to the students for any inconveniences caused and promised action would be taken against the caterer after an inquiry.

OOPS, IT’S VIRAL

Pictures of posters earmarking separate entry points, wash basins and utensils for vegetarian and non-vegetarian students at the North Indian mess in IIT-M went viral on FB.