Row over Gujarat Speaker’s comments

The use of inappropriate words has landed Gujarat Assembly Speaker Mangalbhai Patel in trouble, with a section of Assembly staff taking offence to some of his comments.

The use of inappropriate words has landed Gujarat Assembly Speaker Mangalbhai Patel in trouble, with a section of Assembly staff taking offence to some of his comments.

On Wednesday, the Class II, III and IV staff boycotted the garlanding ceremony of India’s former President S Radhakrishnan on the occasion of Teachers’ Day in the Assembly premises, demanding a public apology from the Speaker.

In a press release issued in the name of Gujarat Assembly Class III Employees’ Union, President D P Panchal and Secretary D R Parmar said they would stop attending public programmes if Patel does not apologise for his “indecent behaviour”.

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The employees had gone to meet Patel on Monday to put forward their demand for better telephone service in the offices housed in the Assembly building. “We requested that we should be able to make calls to mobile phones from our landlines so that our work is not hampered,” said Panchal.

“The Speaker dismissed our request, saying, ‘koi ni beri dekhavadi hoye to shun te mare tamne lavi apvani’ (If you find someone’s wife beautiful, am I supposed to get her for you as well),” Panchal alleged

When contacted, Patel said: “If a section of employees is getting some fun out of raking this issue in public, let them. I have nothing to say on this issue.”