Why is ISKCON providing 'free lunch' for members and employees of Bangalore Press Club?

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON, has started providing "free lunch" to members and employees of the Bangalore Press Club.

Members of the club received a message from the Press Club president Sadashiv Shenoy and general secretary HV Kiram, informing them that the ISKCON temple had "agreed to provide free lunch" on all days from 1 pm onward.

Several social media users were mystified as to why this was happening, and pointed out that it might be a conflict of interest.

“This is a journalistic institution and should remain this way,” senior journalist Sugata Srinivasaraju told Newslaundry. “It’s an endorsement of the fact that the Bangalore Press Club has moved in the wrong direction. It’s shocking and as journalists, we should all be ashamed.”

Srinivasaraju said this would affect the independence of journalists and the club itself. "Tomorrow, will you not do a story on ISKCON if you get a free lunch from them?" he asked.

However, general secretary HV Kiran told Newslaundry the lunch was free only on a "trial basis" and that the club would charge a "minimum amount" after a week or two. He also said this was actually an old scheme from six years ago, that had gone on "successfully" for four years, and was now being restarted.

“We are getting subsidies for the employees. ISKCON is not giving it for free,” he said, adding that it was introduced for employees of the Press Club initially, and then the members.

Kiran denied that this was a conflict of interest and pointed out the low-paying salaries of journalists make it hard to survive in metropolitan cities and that several journalists had lost their jobs during the pandemic.