Thiruvananthapuram: What if three letters can trump an entire language? Thiruvalla MLA Mathew T Thomas was denied parking at the Kerala Assembly on Wednesday after Watch and Ward staff objected to the Malayalam designation on his car, which read “Niyamasabha Angam” instead of the English abbreviation “MLA”. Incidentally, Thomas is the chairperson of the Assembly’s Official Languages Committee and had deliberately opted for a Malayalam nameplate, replacing the customary English board.

In a Facebook post, Thomas said the Watch and Ward staff objected to his vehicle because it carried the Malayalam designation for Legislative Assembly Member rather than ‘MLA’. When he attempted to park inside the Assembly premises, he was informed that only vehicles marked ‘MLA’ were permitted, while those bearing “Legislative Assembly Member” were not.

Sharing the context, Thomas wrote that he has been using the same car since 2018 and that it has clocked over 2.25 lakh kilometres. On Wednesday, as he tried to park, a Watch and Ward staff member politely told him that only vehicles belonging to MLAs were allowed.

“When I asked whether vehicles of members of the Legislative Assembly could not be parked, the reply was immediate: only MLA vehicles are permitted,” he wrote.

The episode, Thomas noted wryly, reinforced what his driver had often told him, that writing ‘MLA’ in English somehow carries more authority. “As the chairperson of the Assembly’s Official Languages Committee, I have decided to let this pass,” he added.