The House witnessed a reversal of roles between the ruling Shiv Sena and the Congress over protecting and nurturing interests of the Marathi language and the people speaking the same. The chaos on the issue started soon after question hour and chairperson Prof NS Pharande started reading out notices of adjournment moved by various members.

Leader of the Opposition Chhagan Bhujbal had given a notice of adjournment over transfer of seven out of eight Maharashtrian producers from the Mumbai Doordarshan studio, Worli, to remote places in different Indian states. Even before Pharande could announce his decision whether debate on the issue will take place in the House or not, Bhujbal sought permission to speak.

``There are eight Maharashtrian producers working with the DD's Worli studio. Recently, seven of them have beenpromoted and transferred to places like Silchar, Andaman and Guwahati. As it is, Marathi programmes hardly get any time on the DD and the standard of the existing programmes is also poor,'' he said.

``Hence, if the Maharashtrian producers are transferred out of the State, it would directly hamper production of Marathi programmes. No alternative provision has been made to avoid such a situation. All this is happening when Pramod Mahajan, a Maharashtrian himself, is the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting. This is nothing but suppression of the Marathi language and citizens of Maharashtra,'' said Bhujbal.

As soon as Bhujbal ended his speech, Opposition members started shouting anti-government slogans. Members Kripashankar Singh, Chandrakant Raghuvanshi and Anil Patel started waving a banner which read ``Down with the government that is suppressing the Marathi language and producers.'' Pharande strongly objected to this and asked the members to put away the banner. He, however, failed to pacifythe agitating Opposition members.

As the situation got worse, Chief Minister Narayan Rane tried to reply to the Opposition members. ``The State Government is fully aware of the transfers of the producers and situation arising from it. I have had a talk with Union I&B minister Pramod Mahajan, who has assured me of finding a quick solution to the problem. However, why the Opposition members have suddenly became so concerned for the fate of Marathi? It was the Shiv Sena which has been fighting for survival and betterment of the Marathi language and Maharashtrians for more than three decades. The Opposition has raised the issue with an eye on the March 2000 Assembly elections,'' he said.

Not satisfied with Rane's answer the agitating Opposition members walked out of the House. Meanwhile, Pharande merely called out the business on the agenda and adjourned the House for 22 minutes.