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| The language they speak | | | ET REPORT
Jammu, Jan 20: When some members of the Assembly took oath in Kashmiri and Dogri languages today there it was not an unconstitutional exercise because the two languages stand included in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India. And when Nazir Gurezi took the oath in Shina language again there was to violation of the constitution because Shina language is included in the 6th schedule of the State constitution.
In fact when the BJP had announced a day earlier that its members would take the oath in Dogri language members from the PDP had already made the preparation for causing a breezy embarrassment to the BJP MLAs, especially its chief, Ashok Khajuria. PDP members were right when they reminded Khajuria that he should use the word Parmatma not Mata because in the format prepared by the Assembly secretariat the line is "in the name of God."
The State Constitution has provided for the use of Urdu and English as the official languages in Jammu and Kashmir. This very provision covers all the proceedings of the state legislature. This way it is clear that members can speak, during the proceedings in the state legislature, only in Urdu or English. No doubt the constitution is silent over the language the newly elected members can use while taking oath but under the precedent adopted since 1951,when the first Assembly was constituted, members were supposed to take the oath either in English or Urdu.
There have been occasions when some members trying to speak in languages other than Urdu or English, during the debates on the floor of the House, were either restrained and corrected by the speaker or booed by the members. Since the Assembly speaker has powers to suspend legislative practices or rules the pro-tem speaker, Choudhary Mohammad Aslam, was right when he allowed the BJP members to take oath in Dogri and two others in taking oath in Kashmiri and Shina languages.
If there was any breach in the legislative procedure it was the inability of the Assembly secretariat in issuing a proper format for those members who wished to take the oath in languages other than Urdu and English. The result of this lacuna was that those members who took the oath in Dogri, Kashmiri and Shina failed to stick to the set format. By insisting on taking oath in Dogri, which provoked a couple of others to take oath in Kashmiri and Shina languages, the BJP had displayed its regional character. It has played its political cards wisely but such an attitude could lay basis for more chaos and confusion in the future if members start participating the Assembly proceedings using dialects which are not understandable to the speaker and other members. |
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