Bengaluru
Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, wife of late BJP senior leader Ananth Kumar, has issued a public apology after facing criticism over a tweet referring to the traditional sweet dish “payasa” as “payasam” in Kannada.
Tejaswini currently serves as the chairperson of the Adamya Chetana Foundation, which provides mid-day meals to school children. After the new academic year began, she posted on Twitter about the food items being distributed to children. In her tweet, she mentioned bisibelebath, khara boondi, and “payasam” — a term used in Tamil and Malayalam but considered linguistically incorrect in Kannada. Several users pointed out that the correct word in Kannada is “payasa.”
In response to the backlash, she posted a follow-up tweet a day later, saying, “The other day on Friday, we served payasa to the children. Not payasam. Apologies, I had written it incorrectly.”
On May 30, the second day of school, she had shared a photo of a meal delivery vehicle and mentioned the breakfast and lunch items. The original tweet read: “Milk, egg or banana were sent in the morning. Now, bisibelebath, payasam and khara boondi are ready to be sent.”
Over 50 people commented on the post, most correcting the use of “payasam” in Kannada.
Responding to another user’s concern about eggs being included in the meals, Tejaswini clarified that the government has made eggs mandatory in the mid-day meal scheme. However, she added that children who do not wish to consume eggs are given bananas as an alternative, and that her foundation is adhering to this policy. She also mentioned the need to explore plant-based alternatives to eggs in the future.