HYDERABAD: Ahead of December 10, the scheduled date for the beef festival in Osmania University (OU), the organisers of festival on Tuesday staged a protest on the campus and displayed the menu for the beef festival to celebrate their right to eat the food of their choice. The students, who gathered at one of the hostel buildings, also had beef and announced that they would go ahead with the festival.
Despite the City Civil Court issuing orders to maintain status quo on the campus till December 20, the organisers of beef festival have decided to go ahead with their plans. In fact, they are planning to challenge this order in the High Court on Wednesday.
R N Shanker, member of All India Students Federation (AISF) and one of the organisers of beef festival said, “We will approach the High Court and seek withdrawal of the status quo. If the court grants permission, we will stick to the plan on December 10 itself.”
Ever since the students announced to host the beef festival, there was a collective resistance from university authorities, city police and several other student organisations. The university administration has already denied permission to the festival, so did the police. However, the students decided not to step back on their plans.
As December 10 is fast approaching, a large number of police have been deployed on the campus. The East Zone police have already warned of strict action against the festival organisers and the university authorities maintained that the festival will not be allowed on the campus.
Following the recent developments on the campus, OU authorities expressed concern over the upcoming semester examination for post-graduation courses. In a press statement issued on Tuesday, the OU administration sought cooperation from students, research scholars and faculty members to conduct the PG semester exams that would commence from December 14. University authorities appealed to them to maintain the academic environment and peace in the university, in the larger interest of the student community.