breakfast scheme – The Commune https://thecommunemag.com Mainstreaming Alternate Fri, 30 Jan 2026 12:54:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://thecommunemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/cropped-TC_SF-1-32x32.jpg breakfast scheme – The Commune https://thecommunemag.com 32 32 “We’re Having Loose Motions, Stalin Is Trying To Kill Us With This Food”, Tirunelveli Sanitation Workers Dump Foul-Smelling Stale Breakfast Given To Them Under DMK Govt Scheme https://thecommunemag.com/they-think-we-are-slaves-to-food-stalin-is-trying-to-kill-us-with-this-food-tirunelveli-sanitation-workers-dump-foul-breakfast-allege-illness/ Fri, 30 Jan 2026 09:17:26 +0000 https://thecommunemag.com/?p=139533 Anger among sanitation workers in Tirunelveli escalated after breakfast supplied under a State government scheme was found to be foul-smelling, watery and allegedly caused illness, prompting workers to dump the food in garbage bins and publicly accuse authorities of treating them with contempt. The free breakfast scheme for sanitation workers was announced by Chief Minister […]

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Anger among sanitation workers in Tirunelveli escalated after breakfast supplied under a State government scheme was found to be foul-smelling, watery and allegedly caused illness, prompting workers to dump the food in garbage bins and publicly accuse authorities of treating them with contempt.

The free breakfast scheme for sanitation workers was announced by Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and has been implemented in the Tirunelveli Municipal Corporation for over a month, covering more than 750 workers across four zones. However, workers say the scheme has become a source of distress rather than relief.

“There Is Absolutely No Quality”

Sanitation workers in the Thachanallur zone said the food supplied on Tuesday emitted a foul odour and was unfit for consumption.

“The food has no quality. There is absolutely no quality. We are having loose motions. It is like this. We have to just throw it away,” a worker said.

Another worker alleged that instead of addressing their long-standing demand for higher wages, the administration was offering substandard food as a substitute.

“When we ask for a salary hike, they give us food. They think we are slaves to food. I don’t know when they decided that sanitation workers should be treated like this,” the worker said.

Pointing to the food served, workers described its condition in detail.

“Look here, see how this food is. You can’t tell when it was cooked. Water is oozing out. Look here, see how the food is. It is watery, just watery. Look at the sambar here. It is watery, watery food. The food is at the bottom of the plate,” one of them said.

Allegations of Illness After Consuming Food

A sanitation worker recounted falling seriously ill after consuming breakfast provided during the initial days of the scheme.

“Sir, on the first day they gave pongal. After eating that, I kept vomiting and purging. I had to take a week’s leave and lie at home. I told them that day itself: ‘Sir, the food is not okay at all. We don’t want this food,’” the worker said.

According to the worker, officials dismissed the complaint.

“They said, ‘No, as our duty we will give you the food. You can throw it away or do whatever you want, we don’t care. We just have to show it in the records that we gave it,’” the worker alleged.

Since then, workers said they have been routinely discarding the meals.

“We couldn’t do anything. We just take it and keep throwing it away. Till yesterday, that is all we have been doing – taking it and throwing it away. This kind of food, we would rather buy and eat from a shop,” the worker said.

“For Three Days, the Same Watery Food”

Another sanitation worker said the same poor-quality food had been supplied repeatedly.

“For three days they have been giving only this food. For three days, the same food. This pongal here – no, it is upma – this doesn’t even have any consistency. It is just watery. Watery. It has a bad smell,” the worker said.

The worker also questioned the cost and priorities behind the scheme.

“For one meal it is 100 rupees. For this food they are giving us, our salary… Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has given us free breakfast. It has been one month of this. For one month we have been eating this breakfast. But after eating it for a month, we have been spending all our money only in hospitals,” the worker alleged.

Displaying the meal to reporters, the worker added: “Look here, see this food here. This is how it is. This is the morning food. See here, how this food is.”

Wage Demand, Not Food

Workers stressed that their protest was not against welfare measures but against what they described as misplaced priorities.

“They are trying to kill us with this kind of food,” a worker said, naming the Chief Minister. “We are not coming here for food. We have come asking, ‘Increase our salary and give.’ They give us a salary of 540 rupees. We are asking them, ‘Give us 700 or 800 rupees salary.’ But instead of raising our salary, they are cheating us by giving this food.”

Source: Maalai Malar

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]]> Dinamalar Puts Objectionable Headline About TN Govt Breakfast Scheme; Stalin, DMK & Dravidianists Target Hinduism And Brahmins https://thecommunemag.com/dinamalar-puts-objectionable-headline-about-tn-govt-breakfast-scheme-stalin-dmk-dravidianists-target-hinduism-and-brahmins/ Thu, 31 Aug 2023 11:51:34 +0000 https://thecommunemag.com/?p=59858 Tamil news daily, Dinamalar is in the news for an objectionable headline in the 31 August 2023 edition. The headline of the article on the front page of the newspaper critiquing the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme read “Breakfast Scheme – Double meals for the students” and a byline that said, “Toilets in schools overflowing”.  Unacceptable […]

The post Dinamalar Puts Objectionable Headline About TN Govt Breakfast Scheme; Stalin, DMK & Dravidianists Target Hinduism And Brahmins appeared first on The Commune.

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Tamil news daily, Dinamalar is in the news for an objectionable headline in the 31 August 2023 edition. The headline of the article on the front page of the newspaper critiquing the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme read “Breakfast Scheme – Double meals for the students” and a byline that said, “Toilets in schools overflowing”. 

The Dinamalar article implied that the introduction of the new breakfast program, in addition to the existing mid-day meal initiative, has led to an increase in students’ restroom usage due to having consumed an excessive amount of food.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin hit out at the newspaper article by posting about it on social media platform X. He however chose to bring Sanatana Dharma and Brahmins into the picture.

He posted, “One race to do the hard work, one race to do the eating and fattening – at a time when Manuvadhis were ruling, the great Dravidian party was formed to bring in social justice in the form of “everything for everyone”. ‘Whatever you give the Shudras, never give them education’ – this idea was smashed and the education revolution was created by the Dravidian movement regime. In an era when we are launching the Chandrayaan to the Moon, if Sanatanam can publish such a headline, then what kind of games would it have played 100 years back? What would have been the condition of the poor? The malice has not disappeared yet! I strongly condemn #Dinamanu!”

MK Stalin’s son, DMK Youth Wing Secretary and Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Udhayanidhi Stalin took a dig at “Aryans” saying, “The Dravidian model will observe if education is overflowing. The Aryan model will observe if toilets are overflowing.”

In Tamil Nadu, Brahmins are equated with Aryans and are derogatorily addressed as Aryavandheri Papaan meaning Aryan Brahmin immigrants/settlers.

As if waiting for an opportunity to criticise Hinduism and take potshots at Brahmins, a huge number of DMK supporters also posted distasteful tweets targetting Brahmins. Some of them are quoted below:

This tweet says, “If Mother F***** brahmins are feeling the heat/feeling jealous, this scheme is a historic success. This breakfast scheme will speak about the achievements of the Dravidian movement for centuries. The measure of our success is directly proportional to the level of jealousy of the Brahmins.”

In another tweet that quotes the Editor/Founder of Dinamalar who posted a condemnation note about an objectionable article. The tweet says “The one word that is “their” favourite is sorry.” Here the one who has posted it has used the term “Avaa” which is a derogatory term for Brahmins and is like a slur used against them. 

Kalaignar News handle was found having a field day and made several distasteful posts. Here are a few:

“Why does Dinamalar feel jealous when poor children eat?”

In this tweet captioned, Action Reaction, the picture on the left is a screenshot of the news article by Dinamalar on the Breakfast Scheme, on the right, there is a toilet roll with a morphed news article that reads “Let’s protect the sanctity of the poonol/janeu” with a byline “Today on the occasion of Avani Avittam, Sacred thread changing ceremony was held at Sringeri Math, near Bypass Road, Madurai.”

In another tweet captioned “Strong condemnation of Dinamalar who criticised the Chief Minister’s breakfast plan!”, the image shared in the tweet reads, “The “Iyer” who eats at his home, doesn’t eat the Puliyodharai given at the temple”. The language used in the image mocks “Iyer bashai” – the language/dialect of Tamil spoken by Tamil Brahmins. .

https://twitter.com/Kalaignarnews/status/1697167339513356766

The auspicious occasion of janeu changing – Avani Avittam, performed by several communities (other than Brahmins) in Tamil Nadu has been mocked in this post. While Dinamalar did carry an article about the festival, the photo and other information cannot be corroborated.

Another handle whose bio suggests that she is Deputy District Co- ordinator (south) Coimbatore DMK IT wing, tweeted, “Why should a slave have blood in his body”, these are the lines of Poet Kannadasan. Some people who are in the highest position of journalists are slaves to the fascist forces and are doing such despicable things. Their downfall is not far off.”

The image shared in this tweet portrays the news daily as one run by Brahmins as indicated by the janeu and the shikha. This use of imagery has been written about extensively in this article which shows how the Dravidians use Nazi-style propaganda to spread vitriol about Tamil Brahmins

Another DMK supporter named Arockia Edwin wrote “Thread has been and will be a threat always” vilifying those wearing the sacred thread (Brahmins).

Dravidar Kazhagam President K. Veeramani said “‘Dinamanu’ is the mirror of Agraharam (Brahmin locality). A reflection of Brahmin mindset”.

While many have condemned Dinamalar for the objectionable headline about a noble scheme, the episode has been twisted by DMK and other Dravidianists to spew venom against Hinduism and Tamil Brahmins. An X handle named anbudan Bala pointed out how problematic it is to equate Dinamalar with the entire Brahmin community and whether it would be right in violently abusing the perpetrator caste of the Vengaivayal incident.

https://twitter.com/AmmU_MaanU/status/1697200694980473170

Who Founded Dinamalar?

Dinamalar was founded by TV Ramasubbaiyer in 1951. The fact that the founder was a Tamil Brahmin was enough for the Dravidoids to start spewing venom against Tamil Brahmins as always.

https://twitter.com/gowri74/status/1697168821025681867

Clarification Issued

The news daily has issued a clarification from the Editor K Ramasubbu saying the said news was not published in the Dinamalar editions of Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Pondicherry, Tirunelveli, and Nagercoil that are edited by Mr. K. Ramasubbu. This only appeared in the Dinamalar Erode and Salem editions of the newspaper edited by Mr. R. Sathyamurthy. 

Protests By DMK Supporters

The followers of the Dravidian ideology do not leave any stone unturned to mock, abuse, and spew venom at the Brahmins of the state and this is one such instance. The founder of the ideology, EV Ramasamy Naicker established the Dravidian ideology whose base or foundation is Brahmin hate. They also make it a habit to launch verbal assaults against Hinduism and Hindus.

The members of the DMK burnt copies of the newspaper in protest and have warned of further protests at Dinamalar offices in the coming days. 

Advertisement hoardings of the news daily have been torn down by supporters of the DMK.

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