80% Indians non-vegetarian: Rahul Gandhi's veiled jibe at BRICS dinner menu
80% Indians non-vegetarian: Rahul Gandhi's veiled jibe at BRICS dinner menu
M.U.H
13/09/20265
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the Narendra Modi-led central government over the vegetarian menu served at the BRICS Summit gala dinner in New Delhi, asserting that “80 per cent of Indians are non-vegetarian”.
His remarks triggered a political war of words, with Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera accusing the government of imposing its dietary preferences on foreign dignitaries and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju hitting back at the Congress for “making politics even on the food menu”.
“For the record: 80% of Indians are non-vegetarian. Indian non-vegetarian food is delicious. As are my sister's chole bhature,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on X on Sunday, sharing a picture of the popular North Indian dish.
Backing Rahul Gandhi, Khera said India’s culinary diversity included some of the world’s finest non-vegetarian dishes and questioned why the government chose not to showcase them.
“The BJP’s habit of imposing its dietary preferences on fellow Indians is already deeply problematic. Now, they have taken it a step further by imposing their own choices on dignitaries from across the world,” he said.
Rijiju dismissed the criticism, saying the visiting leaders had relished Indian vegetarian cuisine, which reflected the country’s varied regional traditions and offered rich flavours and nutritional variety.
“I can't believe that Congress party is making politics even on the food menu served to the leaders of BRICS nations,” he wrote on X.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha did not cite a source for the 80 per cent figure. The latest National Family Health Survey, NFHS-6, conducted in 2023-24, does not report a comparable national figure for non-vegetarian food consumption.
However, the previous NFHS-5, conducted between 2019 and 2021, found that 83.4 per cent of men and 70.6 per cent of women aged between 15 and 49 consumed fish, chicken or meat at least occasionally.
Rahul Gandhi’s post came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted BRICS leaders for a distinctly Indian vegetarian dinner at Bharat Mandapam during the two-day summit.
The gala dinner menu featured an array of vegetarian dishes, including khandvi, paneer lababdar, gucchi marmik, millet pulao, mushroom galouti and jalebi. It placed a strong emphasis on millets, in line with India’s push for Shree Anna and its broader sustainability pitch.
The dinner was part of India’s effort to showcase its culinary and cultural traditions to visiting leaders. The vegetarian spread prompted discussion online, with some questioning the absence of non-vegetarian dishes and others praising it as a showcase of Indian cuisine.
Rahul Gandhi’s remarks came as the two-day 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit, hosted by India, concluded on Sunday. The event brought together leaders from the expanded 11-member grouping.
BRICS began with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa before expanding in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Indonesia joined the grouping in 2025. Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam became BRICS partner countries last year.
