Thiruvananthapuram, 24 Oct (H.S.): Lok Bhavan has denied reports that non-vegetarian food has been banned throughout the Kerala Governor’s official residence, clarifying that the restriction applies only to the kitchen preparing meals for Governor Om Prakash Mathur.

Employees remain free to eat food of their choice, Lok Bhavan said, rejecting suggestions that the Governor’s dietary preferences had been imposed on everyone working at the premises.

Mathur is a strict vegetarian, and the instruction was therefore limited to discontinuing the preparation of meat and fish in the kitchen serving him, according to the clarification.

Lok Bhavan sources explained that the kitchen supplies meals only to the Governor and a small number of personal staff members. Other employees bring food from home or eat outside, and no restrictions have been placed on their meals.

The clarification followed a political controversy over reports about the Governor’s instruction. AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal was among those who criticised the reported move, describing it as an unacceptable interference with individual food choices.

Venugopal said an instruction suggesting that everyone should become vegetarian, issued even before the Governor assumed office and understood Kerala’s social circumstances, amounted to an overreach.

Kerala has a diverse food culture in which people are entitled to follow vegetarian or non-vegetarian diets according to their preferences, he said.

He argued that attempts to prohibit familiar food practices or dictate what Malayalis should eat could not be accepted. Such interference threatened Kerala’s distinctive ways of life and violated fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, Venugopal alleged.

Lok Bhavan’s explanation, however, maintained that the instruction concerned cooking arrangements for the Governor alone and did not regulate employees’ personal diets.

The clarification draws a distinction between the food prepared in the Governor’s kitchen and the dietary freedom of other staff, who can continue bringing or buying their preferred meals.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman