While India’s linguistic diversity was in full flow during the oath-taking by the newly-elected members in the Lok Sabha last week, Hindi appears to be the preferred language of communication for Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Not only did she deliver her acceptance speech –after being unanimously elected Speaker on Friday – in Hindi, Ms. Mahajan conducted practically all of Monday’s proceedings in Hindi. This was technically her first full day in the Chair as Speaker and she broke into English only when she had to intervene as members disrupted proceedings.
Otherwise, the scheduled statements she had to make – like the announcement of the panel of chairpersons and the adjournment of the House – were all in Hindi.
