Uncomfortable with Hindi, Alva leaves speech unread

Governor Margaret Alva yet again found herself in a tight spot on her discomfiture with Hindi. Alva, who addressed the assembly Thursday, floundered while delivering the speech in Hindi and was interrupted by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore, who suggested that she need not go on with her speech and that it be considered read in entirety after she had finished just a few paragraphs. Speaker Kailash Meghwal intervened and Alva too agreed to leave the dais.

Meghwal later told the House that a copy of the Governor’s speech will be distributed for everyone to read. Responding to this, BJP legislator from Shahpura Rao Rajendra Singh pointed out to the Speaker that the Governor should have been allowed to speak in a language she is comfortable with instead of putting her through the trouble of delivering a speech in Hindi. “There is a provision in the Constitution that anyone who speaks on the floor of the assembly can do so in a language that he or she is most comfortable in. How can anyone impose a particular language on someone despite her discomfiture in it?” he told Meghwal.

Meghwal maintained it has been a tradition of the assembly that the Governor delivers the address in Hindi but his argument was confronted by Singh who questioned the basis of this tradition. “It was only in the last session that the Governor was asked to deliver her speech in Hindi. How can that become a tradition?” he said.