At INDIA meet, Nitish loses cool after DMK leaders sought English translation of his speech
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reportedly lost his temper during a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders on Tuesday after DMK leaders requested for his speech to be translated into English. The DMK delegation, led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Rajya Sabha MP TR Baalu, was present at the meeting.
According to reports, a wilfully nescient Nitish went on to say that Hindi is the national language and that everyone should learn it after Baalu had asked RJD's Manoj Jha to translate the JD(U) President's remarks.
When Jha reportedly volunteered to translate, Nitish rudely suggested that leaders from the South should learn Hindi and directed the RJD MP to refrain from translating.
Reports indicate that the Bihar CM also went on a tirade about India's freedom struggle, urging people to discard colonial remnants, emphasizing that the country had long ago liberated itself from British rule.
Reports indicate that Nitish displayed dissatisfaction throughout Tuesday's meeting amid speculation about the JD(U) chief and his party's role in the alliance. Since the formation of INDIA, Nitish has reportedly pitched himself for the role of bloc's convenor and is among the potential contenders for the Opposition alliance's Prime Ministerial face.
Posters calling for assigning a big role for the Bihar Chief Minister were seen in several parts of Patna on Tuesday when the JD(U) leader was away to attend the INDIA bloc meeting. Kumar had hosted the first meeting of opposition leaders in Patna in June.
On Tuesday, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal—two likely PM aspirants in the INDIA bloc— sprung a surprise by proposing Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s name as the prime ministerial candidate, saying he can be India's "first Dalit prime minister."
However, Kharge reportedly turned down the suggestion and said the issue will be decided later and their first priority is to try and get a majority by working together.
Notably, India does not have a national language.
However, it has two official languages at the national level—Hindi and English—and 22 designated official languages, including Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, as per the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Similarly, Article 343(3) grants Parliament authority to legislate the continued use of English for official purposes, while Section 3(3) mandates the obligatory use of Hindi and English for specific purposes, including resolutions, general orders, contracts, and official papers presented to Parliament.
Many states have their official languages, and the constitution recognizes linguistic diversity by providing for the use of several languages for official purposes at the state and union territory levels.