In Maharashtra, Batata Wada Loses Its Government Job

Maharashtra Government has taken a revolutionary decision - junk food will no longer be served at official functions. Gone are biscuits, bakery items and, most tragically, batata wada.
In their place will come apples, papayas, boiled eggs, boiled pulses, buttermilk and milk.

Healthy? Certainly.

The invitation says: “Refreshments will be served.”
Every leader arrives happily.
Then the menu is announced.
“Apple.”
Silence.
“Papaya.”
More silence.
“Boiled egg.”
Somebody asks, “Who boiled it?”
One leader quietly checks whether there is an exit door.
“And buttermilk.”
At this point, an opposition leader stands up.
“Chief Minister, we came here to discuss Maharashtra's problems.”
“Yes.”
“But where is the batata wada?”
“Government policy.”
For decades, tea and snacks have played an important role in Indian politics.
Tea has started meetings.
Biscuits have prolonged them.
Batata wada has prevented many meetings from ending on time.
Now everything has changed.
Government employees will have to attend meetings with an apple in one hand and a file in the other.
The canteen staff will face a real crisis.
“Sir, what should we prepare?”
“Two hundred boiled eggs.”
“And samosas?”
“Banned.”
“Batata wada?”
“Banned.”
“Biscuits?”
The cook may finally ask:
“Then why am I working in the government canteen?”

The politicians, meanwhile, may launch a new agitation.
Not for reservations.
Not for portfolios.
Not for power.
For snacks.
One party will demand “justice for batata wada.”
Another will call it an attack on Maharashtra's food culture.
A third will demand a committee.
And the fourth will quietly send someone outside Mantralaya to buy twenty wadas.
Soon there may be a new political slogan:
“No Wada, No Meeting!”

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The government may have succeeded in removing junk food from official functions.
But it has created one dangerous possibility.
The next all-party meeting may be the first meeting in Maharashtra where all parties actually agree on something.
They want their batata wada back.
And if that happens, the humble wada will have achieved what decades of coalition politics could not -
It will unite the Opposition.