Puducherry: There was ‘violence of words’ on Gandhi Jayanti here as the happy event of declaring the Union Territory as ‘Open Defecation Free’ (ODF) ended on a sour note with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and AIADMK legislator A. Anbazhagan exchanging strong words. While the former accused the MLA of overshooting his time limit at the mike and overlooking official etiquette, Anbazhagan said she behaved in ‘uncivilised’ manner in having the mike switched off while he was still addressing the audience.
“Nee Po”, Bedi was heard telling the opposition MLA, pointing her finger to the exit, as he picked up a quarrel with her on the dais over the “insult done to a legislator elected by the people of the local (Oupalam) constituency”.
Enraged at being addressed in singular terms as ‘Nee’, Anbazhagan threw back the same insult at the lady Lt Governor, telling her: “Nee Po”. Perhaps Bedi’s poor knowledge of Tamil was the reason behind yhe ‘Nee’ usage.
In the absence of Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, who was in New Delhi, local administration minister A Namasivayam pronounced the happy declaration of ODF, with Lt Governor Bedi presiding over the function. Being the local MLA, Anbazhagan was also among the speakers, who were all given fixed time slots for the government function to finish on time.
As the AIADMK legislator continued to speak most of the time he was attacking the government alleging poor sanitation and public health measures Kiran Bedi rose from her seat and walked up to him at the mike to tell him firmly to stop.
When he ignored her plea, she turned to the mike technicians managing the PA system below and told them to “switch off the mike”.
The MLA presented an angry ‘namaste’ to Kiran Bedi, began to walk back to his seat and then stopped to pick up an argument over the ‘insult’. Kiran Bedi stood her ground and the arguments went loud and clear over the PA system, and on TV channels.
After the outburst, he walked off the dais and addressed the media outside the hall, where he accused the Lt Governor of “behaving in an uncivilised manner in ordering the mike to be switched off even while he was speaking”. He said he would meet the Assembly Speaker and take up a privilege issue against the LT governor.
Perhaps upset over the turn of events, Kiran Bedi did not make a speech and left the venue soon after the ODF declaration. She told reporters that the MLA had violated the norm that speakers at any government function should keep to the time schedule and also maintain public decorum.
She later said in Whatsapp messages that Anbazhagan “was not even scheduled to speak and he compelled his way before the start of the function to be a part of speaking schedule”. The MLA “came to the mike and went on and on beyond reasonable time when there was long program to follow”, she said, adding that he ignored repeated requests sent through slips of paper to complete his speech and that was when she asked for the mike to be switched off.“Finally after all that he wanted to say, he left in a huff. Incidentally this is not the first time this MLA has done something like this. I have witnessed similar misbehaviour of his earlier too where also he left in a huff when he asked to respect others’ time too”, she added.
