The Akshaya Patra Foundation (APF) is under attack again from motivated activists for its mid-day meals and people have now come out to donate generously to the organisation to counter the malicious propaganda.
Recently, ‘Experts’ wrote an open letter to the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) demanding that they withdraw the compliance certificate that was awarded to the APF after their technical opinion on the matter was sought by the Karnataka government.
About three weeks after the open letter, a report was published on The Hindu by Archana Nathan where the argument was made that children are not eating the food provided by the APF because it was too bland. It also relied on a report by the Karnataka State Food Commission (KSFC) which claimed that children were not eating as much as they should because they did not find it tasty enough.
The campaign against Akshaya Patra was fuelled by anti-Hindu and bigoted ‘activists’ who had in the past, also written articles about how Brahmins obstruct the progress of the country.
After the motivated and malicious campaign, Professor Anand Ranganathan took to Twitter to urge people to put their money where their mouth is. He said that the only way that the bigoted, Hinduphobic and malicious campaign against Akshaya Patra can be defeated, is if people open up their purse strings and donate to the organisation generously.
The ONLY way bigoted, illogical, anti-science, Hinduphobic vested interests can be silenced, is when you put your money where your mouth is.
Please donate to @AkshayaPatra. And do reply with a confirmation that you have done so. Very grateful. Thanks. https://t.co/YsWpn90Atr
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) June 7, 2019
Professor Ranganathan also urged people to respond to his tweet with a confirmation after the donation was made.
The response that the Professor was got was overwhelming, to say the least. Several people donated to Akshaya Patra generously and responded with their confirmation receipt.
1) #Thankyou @ARanganathan72 , I did not know donation to @AkshayaPatra was this easy.
2) My contribution for ensuring a good organization does not fall prey to petty politics by so called secularists.???? pic.twitter.com/dfWkZx0fZb— Ninjamonkey (@Aryanwarlord) June 7, 2019
Among the people who responded, was also Sunil Jain, the managing director of Financial Express.
My piece on @AkshayaPatra @TVMohandasPai https://t.co/jrMHO5Q8jg
And yes, thanks to @ARanganathan72‘s tweet-plea, I’ve made a small donation.
Once again, thank you for what you’ve created @AkshayaPatra Philanthropy married with scale is what India needs— Sunil Jain (@thesuniljain) June 7, 2019
Several others joined the movement.
Call to arms! What better way to spend money than to feed hungry children an eco-friendly, kind, sustainable, planet-friendly diet. I support #Akshayspatra and their ideology. I will protect them against hate-filled bigots. pic.twitter.com/3N4ojuW2y5
— Deepika ? (@ahlade) June 7, 2019
I don’t earn yet but I gave away something from my pocket-money ? pic.twitter.com/Xy4G6PUgeB
— சமர்த்த (@PoirotH_) June 7, 2019
Some even said that the controversy helped them become aware of the good work Akshaya Patra was doing.
Done Sir. The good side of this controversy is that I became aware of the brilliant work Akshay Patra is doing. pic.twitter.com/xbmtmZclhj
— प्रशान्त (@kya_raayta) June 7, 2019
Others said that donating to Akshaya Patra was how they celebrated their son’s 4th birthday.
My son celebrates 4 month Birthday in style pic.twitter.com/GanS5EJJ3t
— sagar HMP (@sssaaagar) June 7, 2019
And the love just kept pouring in.
Thank you for reminding. Paid 9900 + for 9 plates. Hare Krishna. pic.twitter.com/OkUGkrcidp
— Sathya (@spanduranga) June 7, 2019
The responses included here are just an indication of the overwhelming support that Akshaya Patra received from Hindus after the ‘liberals’ declared war on the organisation. In just over 11 hours, social media users seem to have donated over Rs. 21 lacs to Akshaya Patra.
Earlier, Akshaya Patra had got a shining endorsement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself and had also received the Gandhi Peace Prize.
Akshaya Patra has been under attack from foreign-funded NGOs and a coterie of ‘civil rights’ organizations that have intimate links to ‘Urban Naxals’. We had earlier reported how the demand to terminate Akshaya Patra’s contract has been made by the Right to Food Campaign which represents a very specific section of ‘Civil Society’. This section receives funding from Christian organizations abroad, from George Soros’ Open Society Institute which has a very controversial record and has intimate links to ‘Urban Naxals’ and separatists.