India’s secular and linguistic diversity stamped by new MLAs

India’s diversity was on sparkling display at the oath taking ceremonies by  the newly elected legislators to the State Assemblies after the May 2016 elections.

 In West Bengal new MLAs of the Trinamool Congress Party led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took the oath in the name of Ishwar and Allah  in the State Assembly in Kolkata.

And in Assam the newly elected members took oath in seven different languages from Assamese to Bengali and Bodo to Sanskrit, Hindi, Nepali and English in Guwahati.

  The newly elected  BJP MLA Angoorlata Deka, the Assamese actor, took oath in Sanskrit. The 30-year-old  Assamese actor later said: “Yes, my mother tongue is Assamese, but then Sanskrit is the mother of most Indian languages.”

“When I chose Sanskrit to take oath as an MLA, I not only wanted to focus on the importance of this ancient language – Dev bhasha – but also tried to tell the younger generation of the importance of learning this ancient yet rich, scientific language.” Angoorlata represents Batadrava constituency, which is also the birthplace of Srimanta Sankaradeva, the 16th-century saint-reformer who, she added, enriched the Assamese language by translating several Sanskrit scriptures.

Two more BJP MLAs, Ashok Sarma and Bimal Borah, chose Sanskrit for taking oath in the first sitting of Assam’s 14th assembly.

Among other MLAs, 13 took oath in Bengali, 11 in Bodo, five in English, two in Hindi and the majority 91 in Assamese, including Chief Minister Sonowal, former chief ministers Tarun Gogoi and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

Abdur Rahim Ajmal, son of AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, was among the five MLAs who took oath in English. “I always feel more comfortable in English,” said Ajmal who was elected from Jamunamukh, and educated in Mumbai and Darul Uloom, Deoband.

Assamese is the main official language of the state, Bengali is the official language for the Barak Valley, and Bodo is a Sixth Schedule language used in the four Bodoland Autonomous Council districts, while English has always been in use.

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