Bhopal, Nov. 2: Like There's Something about Mary, there must be something about biryani too.

In the 1998 American film, Cameron Diaz's Mary had several besotted men vying for her heart. In 2016, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has become the latest politician to gun for the mouth-watering dish, days after eight Simi undertrials fled Bhopal Central Jail.

Speaking on the state's 61st foundation day, Chouhan turned belligerent: "Those being tried for terror take years to get punished. For years, they are fed chicken biryani in jail. Then they escape and indulge in more crimes and attacks... we need fast-track courts for terror cases too."

In Madhya Pradesh jails, strict vegetarian food is served. For years, Chouhan has shot down plans to serve eggs in the mid-day meal scheme, saying vegetarian food had everything the human body required and there was no need for the state's 66,000 anganwadis to change their menu.

Biryani had acquired notoriety during the trial of Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani national convicted for the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. He was hanged to death in November 2012, four years after the 2008 attack that killed over 160 people.

Ujjwal Nikam, the special public prosecutor who had argued on behalf of the State, had then alleged that Kasab had demanded and was served chicken biryani in jail.

So had BJP MP Varun Gandhi, who was briefly jailed for making inflammatory speeches. He repeatedly used the biryani reference at election campaigns, telling the people: "Biryani for Kasab and roti-sabzi for Varun."

Even yoga televangelist Ramdev stirred the biryani pot during his anti-UPA campaign in 2012. He told the people at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan: "Terrorists are given biryani and patriots are denied even water."

It is a different matter that three years after Kasab's hanging, Nikam disclosed that the Pakistani terrorist had "never demanded nor was he given" biryani in jail. At a counter-terror conference in Jaipur in 2015, Nikam said he had "made up the statement... just to divert people's attention".

Biryani had become a politically loaded word when L.K. Advani compared the treatment of terrorists holed up in Srinagar's Hazratbal shrine with that of people fired on during the 1991-92 Ayodhya movement. Advani had accused the then Narasimha Rao government of serving biryani to a bunch of terrorists while ordering firing on those wanting a Ram temple to be built.

Since 1993, serving biryani became a reference of sorts to indicate a weak government or an ineffective judicial system. Wajahat Habibullah, an IAS officer who handled the Hazratbal crisis, said he had to constantly fight rumours that he was sending biryani to militants in the shrine.

Speaking to The Telegraph , he said: "First, I hadn't given any biryani. And second, the Kashmiris don't like biryani. If I gave them biryani, they would throw it away."

According to food critic Rahul Verma, BJP leaders should now "broaden horizons" and look beyond biryani. "What about korma, kebab and kofta?" asked Verma, wondering how Chouhan who does not allow eggs in school mid-day meals could even think that biryani was served in jail.