Mumbai: Onion, garlic, potato and beetroot became the unlikely centre of a political and social-media storm in Maharashtra this week after a school run by BJP MLA Narendra Mehta asked parents to keep non-vegetarian food and root vegetables out of their children’s lunchboxes during the Jain festival of Paryushan.
Seven Square Academy in Mira Road sent a message on its WhatsApp groups asking parents not to pack kanda-mool, or vegetables that grow underground, during the eight-day religious period. The school also said its canteen would prepare food without onions, garlic and potatoes.
But what the management described as a request soon drew protests over whether a school could prescribe dietary choices based on one religion.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers protested outside the school Thursday, with some workers wearing garlands of onions and garlic. The circular was subsequently withdrawn from the school’s official portal, according to MNS functionaries quoted by PTI.
Mehta, the Mira-Bhayandar MLA who runs the school, denied that students were compelled to follow the request and urged political parties not to politicise the festival.
“Paryushan is a sacred festival centred around ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence) and compassion for all living beings. The message sent by the school was merely a request to parents, not a mandatory order or compulsion. We simply asked students and parents to refrain from packing non-essential or unhealthy items for these eight days as part of healthy eating habits,” he told PTI.
Mehta also argued that scientific principles backed practices such as drinking warm water and following light vegetarian diets, saying similar advisories asking people to avoid non-vegetarian food were routinely issued during Ganeshotsav and Navratri.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut was sharper in his criticism.
Raut said religion should remain confined to one’s home. “You don’t eat garlic and onion. If such restrictions are imposed in the name of religion, then it is worse than love jihad,” he said, adding that restrictions on food have been a “challenge to Maharashtra”.
Raut demanded that the government shut down the school.
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‘Don’t legislate it onto their plates’
The school laid out a note in the circular for parents.
“Important note for students: 1. Students are requested to carry their tiffin accordingly without Kanda-Mool. 2. Our school canteen will also serve without onion, garlic and potto during Paryushan. Let us all pledge to be more kind and compassionate,” states the circular.
The controversy quickly travelled beyond the school gates and onto X, where the argument became less about potatoes and more about where religious observance ends, and other people’s food choices begin.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde criticised the school. Responding to a post about the circular, he questioned why Jain dietary restrictions should be imposed on others, adding: “This na khaunga, na khane doonga business must stop.”
But another part of the debate came from within the Jain community itself.
Advocate Ayushi Doshi, who identified herself as Jain, opposed attempts to make Paryushan food restrictions applicable to people who had not chosen to observe them. Jain followers voluntarily choose fasting and dietary restrictions, she wrote.
Her message was simple: “Practise your religion so beautifully that people respect it. Don’t legislate it onto their plates.”
However, not everyone agreed.
Tanvi Jain, another X user who regularly posts about Jainism, defended the idea that institutions could incorporate satvik values. Referring specifically to schools, she wrote that if she owned and managed one, “I will add the rules of Satvik food, compassion for Nature and peaceful life lessons” alongside the academic curriculum.
She argued that religiously managed schools already incorporate aspects of their respective traditions and that teaching Jain ideas such as compassion, minimalism and avoiding harm should be viewed similarly.
The school row comes amid a wider dispute in Mira-Bhayandar over food during Paryushan. The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation had separately passed a resolution for a temporary ban on meat and fish sales during the festival.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)