THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha stood out with the majority of the 18 MPs from Kerala taking oath in Malayalam during their swearing-in ceremony. While first-time BJP MP Suresh Gopi took his oath in Malayalam, UDF MPs N K Premachandran, K C Venugopal, Adoor Prakash and another debutant MP Shafi Parambil decided in favour of English. Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden took his oath in Hindi which reminded him of his long stint in New Delhi during his NSUI days.
On Monday, 18 MPs took oath as MPs from Kerala. Those who took oath in Malayalam include UDF MPs Anto Antony, Kodikunnil Suresh, Dean Kuriakose, Benny Behanan, V K Sreekandan, E T Muhammed Basheer, M P Abdussamad Samadani, M K Raghavan, K Sudhakaran and Rajmohan Unnithan. The lone CPM MP from Alathur, K Radhakrishnan, another first-timer also took oath in Malayalam.
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi did not take oath on Monday. Tharoor is travelling abroad. He told TNIE that he will be taking oath on Wednesday. With Rahul Gandhi stepping down from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat and deciding to retain his Rae Bareli seat, it is going to witness a by-election soon. A senior Congress MP told TNIE that during the 2021 Lok Sabha election, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had dissuaded everyone from taking oath in
Hindi when the then BJP government was trying to impose Hindi across the country. Hibi who took oath in Hindi told TNIE that during his stint as NSUI president, he had dallied mostly in Hindi.
“I was based in New Delhi for close to 3.5 years before becoming a legislator from Ernakulam assembly constituency. My association as NSUI president helped me to dabble in Hindi. So when I got an opportunity to speak in Hindi, I decided to grab at it”, said Hibi.
The lone BJP MP from Kerala, Suresh Gopi muttered, “Krishna, Guruvayurappa, Bhagawaney” before taking his oath in Malayalam.
