While Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi was attacked by MNS members for taking oath in Hindi instead of Marathi, instances of MLAs taking oath in their mother tongue — without anyone objecting — are fairly common. A look at the current Houses in other states:

West Bengal: Unlike Maharashtra Assembly, taking oath in languages other than Bengali is welcome here. Though majority of the 294 MLAs took oath in Bengali, there are records of MLAs taking oath in English, Hindi, Santhali, Nepali and Urdu. In the 2006, Chunibala Hansda, MLA from Binpur in Jhargram, took oath in Santhali. “I insisted on taking oath in Santhali, because that is my language and I was allowed,” she said. In fact, it was Chunibala’s husband Naren Hansda who had originally demanded that he would take oath in Santhali and it was granted. Santa Chhetri, GNLF MLA from Kurseong, took her oath in Nepali. Assembly Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim said: “We have a tradition of allowing everyone to take oath in the language of his or her choice.”

Andhra Pradesh: In the 293-member Assembly, seven MLAs of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party took oath in Urdu. Suman Rathod, TDP MLA from Khanapur, took the oath in Hindi, the rest took the oath in Telugu on June 4.

Madhya Pradesh: In an Assembly comprising 230 MLAs, 21 took oath in Sanskrit, one in Urdu, the rest in Hindi.

Chhattisgarh: Majority of the 90 MLAs took oath in Hindi, except a few who took oath in Chhattisgarhi dialect.

... contd.