I would like to bring your kind attention towards an untoward incident happened which caused damage to the communal harmony between different classes of society across Kerala. The incident was all over news and was a topic for prime time debates in almost all leading Malayalam channels. The crime committed by the Ex MLA of Congress Party - INC, Mr. VT Balram through his Facebook is a cognizable offence and demands model punishment.

On 4th Jan, 2023 Mr. VT Balram, a well known news person and an ex elected representative to Kerala Legislative Assembly and also a renowned leader of a national party like Congress posted a hate content on his facebook wall, which is highly venomous in nature and have capacity to create communal tension between castes.

He through his facebook post accused renowned chef and caterer Mr. Pazhayidom Mohanan Namboothiri as an Upper Class Bourgeoisie who is forcibly serving Vegetarian food to all the class of people at the State School Arts Festival held at Kozhikode City, which concluded yesterday. He is also saying, people from other class of hindu community and other religions may want non vegetarian food also but not available due to the elite class hegemony of Mr. Namboothiri who belongs to an upper class of hindu religion. By serving or making available only one sort of food, Mr Namboothiri is pushing is agenda of Upper Class hegemony to all communities.

Facebook Post Link : https://www.facebook.com/644674138/posts/pfbid02qT8mZk4EvByYq6xkmSB121pupRuHouLNZQuLByfw7G4gr98xHE7rhqHicNfXQLFl/?mibextid=cr9u03

The fact is that Mr. Namboothiri is in this business for last 26 years with an impeccable service record in India and abroad for his delicious culinary skills. Unofficially Mr. Namboothiri has served food to almost 2 crore people in his service which may be number nobody can claim in their name worldwide.

He is the one who wins contract always on pan kerala basis for such arts and sports festival as per the contract awarded by the Govt of Kerala for the last 16 years. He fulfilled his duty with at-most sincerity and dedication all the time and in last 16 years, including this year there was not a single complaint. The food menu which is prepared in the school fest is already decided by the Govt authorities and Mr. Namboothiri is not entitled with any powers to alter the same. As the menu and the timing of food is given by the Govt authorities and the Festival Food committee, the contractor who wins the bid is expected to stick to the menu and timing of delivery at decided locations.

By his heinous words, Mr VT Balram has abused the position of an an ex representative of a reputed state assembly house, to create communal divide among people. His actions are cognizable offence under IPC SECTION 153, 153A, 295. I request your good selves to initiate punishment and arrest the person under relevant sections, so that it should be a model punishment for such people in future.

Yours faithfully,