A day after facing criticism from the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for him rooting for Hindi, Samajwadi state chief Abu Azmi is till firm on taking oath in Hindi. “I respect Marathi, but would take the oath in Hindi. Apart from familiarity with the language, I do not want to succumb to pressures of Raj Thackeray and look as if I am scared,” he said.

Azmi has always been on loggerheads with the Shiv Sena and the MNS over issues related to the Marathi language. “Hindi is the national language and I would settle for Hindi. But on the other hand, I would also like to learn Marathi as it is the state language. In fact, Urdu should also be added as a state language as the Deccan plateau (most of it is in Maharashtra) have Urdu-speaking people.”

Interestingly, when Newsline visited his office in Colaba, Azmi was reading a book on Constitution of India.

Azmi, who first became a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh in 2002, had unsuccessfully contested from Bhiwandi seat in 2004 assembly elections and the Northwest Mumbai constituency in the Lok Sabha elections. But he hit a double jackpot when he settled scores with Yogesh Patil, Sena MLA from Bhiwandi, by winning from Bhiwandi East and also wrested Shivaji Nagar-Mankhurd seat, a traditional Congress bastion. He has to vacate one of these seats and he says, “I have not decided on the seat I would be vacating.”

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