Hindi Marathi issue continues

The Maharashtra Assembly saw a stormy session on Wednesday morning as the House was adjourned thrice over the Abu Azmi issue.

After Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), it was the turn of parent party Shiv Sena to seek an apology from Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi. The Sena legislators disrupted the proceeding in the House repeatedly demanding an apology from Azmi for his comments against the party chief, Bal Thackeray.

Earlier, the MNS wanted Azmi to apologise to the people of Maharashtra for 'disrespecting' Marathi by taking oath in the Assembly in Hindi.

A day after shaming democracy by manhandling the SP MLA for taking oath in Hindi, the MNS legislators had on Tuesday offered to apologise to the Assembly for their deed.

According to their pre-announced warning, rabble-rouser Raj Thackeray's mob of unruly lawmakers had on Monday targeted Azmi in the House as he did not abide by the MNS chief's diktat to take oath in Marathi only.

As the four MLAs, who were identified as the real troublemakers, were suspended from the House for four years, they now want to apologise. They, however, still had a condition that they would apologise to the house only, not to Azmi.

Ram Kadam, one of the four suspended MNS MLAs, had said, "As far as Abu Azmi is concerned, we will never apologise to him. In fact, he has to apologise to the people of Maharashtra. However, we can apologise to the house as per the instructions given by Raj Thackeray."

Soon after the incident, a privilege motion was passed by Minister Harshvardhan Patil seeking suspension of the four MLAs. They are all first-timers in the assembly. They have also been barred from entering Mumbai and Nagpur, whenever the assembly meets in the two cities.

(Courtesy India Today)