The Nalbari Menu

A lavish menu reportedly fixed for serving lunch to the members of the Himanta Biswa Sarma cabinet when it met at Nalbari a couple of days ago, has hit the headlines for the wrong reason. And the scoop was not by any journalist or news outlet, but by the Assam Chief Minister himself. As reported, Chief Minister Sarma has taken a strong exception to the Nalbari District Commissioner’s failure to take note of repeated instructions from the CM’s office to arrange a simple vegetarian lunch for those who attended the cabinet meeting on Thursday. As reported, “a rather elaborate arrangement with too many items” was made, evoking strong displeasure from the Chief Minister. While the Chief Minister’s strong-worded letter to the Nalbari DC should serve as an eye-opener for all bureaucrats, irrespective of rank and status, the fact remains that most officers have been in the habit of organising lavish lunches, dinners, and high tea as part of government or official functions and events. While one reason is that the money spent is from the state exchequer and not from their individual bank account, another suspected reason could be a kind of inspiration that a section of officers receives from food suppliers, caterers, and contractors. A lavish lunch or dinner means a fat bill, and a fat bill can probably lead to a commensurate commission for those bureaucrats who pass such bills for payment. An RTI query probably will help bring to light the kind of food served at various government functions and events in the past couple of years, when a cup of good-quality black Assam tea with a narikal ladoo or a til pitha would have served the purpose. There are, however, instances in the past of guests, particularly from outside the state, being served coffee and not tea, even in the Chief Minister’s office, when Assam happens to be the largest tea producing state in the entire country. Lavish menus have also become a kind of fashion in Assamese society in recent times, with guests being served various kinds of expensive food that may not be so tasty and may not necessarily be good for the stomach.