A directive attributed to Kerala’s new Governor, Om Prakash Mathur, that only vegetarian food be cooked in the Lok Bhavan kitchen has triggered a political row within hours of his taking charge, with the Congress and the CPI(M) calling it an attempt to push the Sangh Parivar’s agenda.
Mathur was sworn in on Friday as Keralam’s 29th Governor, succeeding Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who has been appointed Governor of Tamil Nadu. The instruction to avoid meat and fish in the kitchen at Lok Bhavan, as the Raj Bhavan is now called, was reportedly given even before he took the oath.
AICC general secretary and Alappuzha MP K C Venugopal was among the first to react. In a social media post, he said the order reflected the “unconstitutional interests” of the Sangh Parivar. He argued that a person holding a constitutional office is bound to protect people’s right to decide what to eat and how to live, and that the Governor was insisting that others follow his own food habits. He called it the first step in implementing a saffron agenda in Keralam, and pointed out that the state has a mixed food culture, with abundant fish resources as a coastal state. Venugopal said the Governor is free to follow a vegetarian diet, but that his personal preference should not decide what is served in a kitchen that also feeds employees.
CPI(M) State Secretary M V Govindan also described the directive as part of a Sangh Parivar agenda. State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that every citizen has the right to decide what to wear and what to eat. He said he is a vegetarian himself, but has never asked his non-vegetarian wife to change her food habits.
The Governor’s office has pushed back. Lok Bhavan sources told PTI that Mathur is a strict vegetarian, and that this is why he asked that non-vegetarian food not be prepared in the kitchen where his meals are cooked. The sources said the food made in that kitchen is served only to the Governor and a few members of his personal staff, and Lok Bhavan has denied placing any food restrictions on employees. The Arabian Post reported that staff remain free to bring non-vegetarian food from home or buy meals outside the premises. It also said officials have indicated that vegetarian food was already served at some official receptions before Mathur took charge, and that non-vegetarian dishes were prepared during the term of former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan.
The dispute follows a pattern of disagreements between the Kerala government and the Governor’s office. During Arlekar’s tenure, the then Left government clashed with the Governor over a Bharat Mata portrait at an official venue and a directive asking universities to observe a “Partition Horror Day”, which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called an attempt to impose the Sangh Parivar’s agenda. Mathur’s term now begins amid a similar dispute.
It remains unclear what exactly the Governor ordered, since the instruction has been reported but no written order has been made public, and the two sides differ on how widely it applies. Whether Lok Bhavan clarifies the matter further, or the Congress-led state government takes it up with the Governor, will decide whether the row fades or grows.
