Kerala Governor's reported 'veg-only' kitchen order sparks political row as Congress alleges Sangh Parivar agenda

A kitchen order has become a political argument in Kerala. Om Prakash Mathur, the former governor of Sikkim, has reportedly directed that no non-vegetarian food be prepared or served in the kitchen at Lok Bhavan, the governor's official residence and office in the state. The reports surfaced on Thursday, a day before he formally took office, according to the news agency PTI.

Mathur was sworn in as the 29th governor of Keralam. Shortly afterward, Congress leader K C Venugopal, an AICC general secretary and MP from Alappuzha, responded to the reports. He argued that the matter went beyond what the governor chooses to eat himself, and that it infringed on individual freedom.

Venugopal pointed to the character of the state. Keralam, he said, has a diverse food culture and abundant fish resources as a coastal state, and its people are free to choose between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. As PTI quoted him, he said any attempt to restrict the food habits Keralites are used to, or to dictate what they should eat from now on, cannot be accepted.

His charge was sharper than a defence of the fish curry. Venugopal said restrictions that intrude into people's food choices and seek to erase the state's traditional way of life violate fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. He alleged that the governor was using his authority to curtail individual freedom rather than protect people's right to decide what to eat and how to live. He called the move a continuation of the unconstitutional interests of the Sangh Parivar, and the first step toward implementing its saffron agenda in Keralam.

Venugopal did acknowledge that Mathur has the right to follow a vegetarian diet. His objection was to extending that preference to the Lok Bhavan kitchen, whose employees include Keralites. He urged the governor to withdraw any decision restricting food choices.

Sources in the governor's office, cited by PTI, described something much narrower. They said Mathur is a strict vegetarian and had directed that non-vegetarian food not be cooked in the kitchen where his own meals are prepared. According to them, that kitchen serves only the governor and a few members of his personal staff. Other employees either bring food from home or eat outside, and no restrictions have been placed on their choices, the sources said.

They also offered a point of comparison: fish and meat dishes had been prepared in the Lok Bhavan kitchen during the tenures of some earlier governors. That suggests the kitchen's menu has varied with its occupant, though the sources did not name which governors or when.

So the two accounts differ mainly in scope. Venugopal treats the directive as a broader restriction with political meaning, while the governor's office presents it as a personal arrangement affecting a handful of people. The decision itself is described as reported, and no formal statement from Mathur appears in the coverage. What to watch is whether he or Lok Bhavan clarifies or withdraws the directive, and whether the argument grows into a wider debate over food rights in Keralam.