Odisha Assembly: Lawmakers take language route to strike chord with voters
Bhubaneswar: In an interesting development, senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra was on Friday seen asking his questions in Koshali language and state industry minister Pratap Keshari Deb replying in the same language during the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
During the question hour, the Congress lawmaker Mishra raised a question on the state government’s initiatives in setting up industries in Bolangir, his home district. The question was put in Koshali language. This appeared quite unusual for the treasury bench members as well as opposition lawmakers as Mishra usually puts his questions in English and Odia.
Not to lag far behind, the industry minister Pratap Keshari Deb also took everyone by surprise as he replied in Koshali.
The question and answer session between Mishra and Deb generated a lot of curiosity as well as amusement in the House lawmakers, cutting across party lines, and enjoying every bit of the interaction.
Adding more spice to the interaction, ruling Biju Janata Dal’s Rairakhol MLA Rohit Pujari started asking a question in the Koshali language.
The interaction among lawmakers in Koshali set tongues wagging in the political corridors. Many viewed it as a planned exercise by the leaders to impress the Koshali-speaking voters of western Odisha districts.
Every time an election approaches, the leaders from western Odisha, evoke the Koshal pride issue. They allege “deliberate and perennial neglect” of the region by the coastal Odisha leaders and demand the insertion of the Keshali language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
On Friday also, BJD leader Arun Kumar Sahoo was seen raising the Keshali language issue and urging the lawmakers to put pressure on the Government of India to place the language in the Eighth Schedule.
