Kerala MP asks for apology, cheeky Kozhikode collector gives him a map; here's the back story

Kozhikode collector vs MK Raghavan.

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It took Keralites over two decades to have a real-life IAS officer on the lines of Joseph Alex (the protagonist portrayed by Mammootty in the 1995 Malayalam blockbuster ‘The King’).

Everything that our very own ‘bro’ Prasanth Nair -Kozhikode district collector does makes news these days. This time he is taking on MK Raghavan -the Lok Sabha MP from Kozhikode- in an open fight being waged on social media for the past couple of days. The MP now wants the collector to publicly apologize to him.



Though it’s too early to tell who is correct, the MP or the collector, the fight is grabbing eye balls.





Speaking to The News Minute, Raghavan informs us that he had sent a letter to the district collector seeking an explanation regarding the delay in releasing money from the MP fund.



“In the letter I mentioned about the delay in opening an MP facilitation centre at the Collectorate. He is yet to reply to it. And now I see he has posted a map on his Facebook page. I am planning to move legally since he is not ready to apologize,” he says.



The MP had reportedly demanded a public ‘maappu’ (the Malayalam word for apology) from the bureaucrat. The collector however chose to pun along and promptly posted a map (maappu) of the Kunnamkulam town in Thrissur on Thursday.

Why Kunnamkulam and not some other place?

Any Malayalam movie buff would be familiar with the comic scene from 'Manatheh Kottaaram' where a mentally unsound aged woman first wanted to know why a map-vendor was asking for her forgiveness (maapu) early in the morning, and later turns violent on being told that her small town of Kunnamkulam was not marked on the map of South America!

The MP had earlier apparently barged into the Collectorate on Monday and threatened the staff with dire consequences for throwing the rule book at him, to which the collector responded with a press note released through the PRD, reiterating that nothing would get done under political pressure or threats issued.



“Public money can be spent only after proper inquiry and evaluation. There are procedures to be followed and no deviation whatsoever would be entertained” the release said.



Later speaking to the media, Prashant remarked that he chose not to match Raghavan’s standards of speech.



What irked Raghavan even more was that the latest ‘map’ post came soon after another one that the collector had previously posted on Monday and which too had gone viral.



Prasanth had posted an image of a bucket full of crabs with the note: “Tone down the arrogance and calm down, son.”



The reference was apparently to a story quoted by retired IAS officer Babu Paul in one of his books. When a British officer sees a bucket teeming with crabs meant for export, he was worried over them crawling out during the journey.



The merchant however consoles him by pointing out that these were crabs from Kerala, where if anyone tried to reach the top, others would ensure his downfall at any cost.



The humour was however lost on Raghavan who lashed out at the extremely popular collector with a huge fan base in Kerala. “He neither understands the value of the position he holds, nor has he done anything for the people,” he fumes.



