Keralam Governor Om Prakash Mathur came under fire from the Congress and the CPI(M), his first day in office, following reports that he had instructed the Lok Bhavan kitchen to prepare exclusively vegetarian meals.
CPI(M) also opposes the reported directive
Home minister Ramesh Chennithala also opposed the reported decision, asserting that food habits should be left to individual discretion rather than imposed by others. He alleged that a person holding a constitutional office, who was duty-bound to protect the right to decide what to eat and how to live, was insisting that others follow his own food habits. Addressing the media, he emphasised that people must be free to make their own choices. They clarified that means cooked there were intended for the governor and a small group of staff.
“Any attempt to restrict the food habits Keralites are accustomed to or dictate what they should eat from now on cannot be accepted,” he said. Restrictions that “intrude” into food choices and seek to erase the traditional way of life of Keralites violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the Alappuzha Lok Sabha MP alleged. “Let us eat what we want to eat,” he said. Lok Bhavan officials, quoted by PTI, said the instructions stemmed from governor Om Prakash Mathur’s personal dietary habits, noting that he was a strict vegetarian and wanted the kitchen used for his meals to prepare vegetarian food alone. Other Lok Bhavan employees were free to arrange their own means, either by bringing food from home or purchasing it from outside, and had not been asked to change their eating habits, the sources said.
