Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath speaks in the House during the Budget session of UP Assembly, in Lucknow, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI
The opening day of the Uttar Pradesh legislature budget session on Tuesday witnessed stormy scenes as opposition members greeted Governor Anandiben Patel with slogans during her joint address asking for data on the Maha Kumbh stampede deaths, among other issues. As soon as Ms. Patel started reading her address, Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs stormed into the well of the House and raised slogans: “Rajyapal wapas jao (Governor, go back)“ and “release data on deaths in Kumbh.” As MLAs continued the sloganeering, the Governor ended her speech early.
Later, in the day Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hit out at the Samajwadi Party asking why they were against the Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj and Bundelkhandi languages, and in favour of Urdu.
Mr. Adityanath went on to allege that opposition members sent their own children to English medium schools, while they want other children to study Urdu and become maulvis. The row erupted when SP MLAs demanded translation of assembly proceedings into Urdu just as it is done in English right after the assembly speaker announced that proceedings would be available in four regional languages — Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj, and Bundeli, — as well as English.
“This is the problem. They send their children to English medium schools, but when the government wants to extend this opportunity to other children, these people say teach them Urdu… these people want to make children maulvis. They want to take the country towards fanaticism (kathmullapan),” claimed the U.P. CM.
Divisive politics
The Budget session is likely to witness more confrontations over alleged gross mismanagement at the Maha Kumbh, law and order, caste census, and unemployment. Before the assembly proceedings started, SP MLAs staged a strong protest outside the assembly with party MLA Atul Pradhan arriving in shackles to highlight the deportation of Indian citizens from the United States.
Azad Samaj Party president and Nagina MP Chandra Shekhar Aazad attacked the U.P. CM for his choice of words in the State Assembly adding it exposes the divisive politics he alleged was practiced by Mr. Adityanath.
“The use of derogatory, communal and unconstitutional words like kathmullahpan by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the sacred temple of democracy, the Vidhan Sabha, is not only shameful but also exposes his mindset, which promotes the politics of division instead of uniting society. This statement is not only an insult to a particular community but also to the secular spirit, democratic decorum, and values of the Constitution of India,” said the Nagina MP.
Published – February 19, 2025 12:13 am IST
