Did Azmi shoe away MNS MLAs?

All fingers pointed at the MNS after the party's MLAs attacked Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi for taking oath of office in Hindi and not Marathi yesterday.

All fingers pointed at the MNS after the party's MLAs attacked Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi for taking oath of office in Hindi and not Marathi yesterday.

But, if Raj Thackeray's men are to be believed the attack was provoked by Azmi.

They say the SP leader pointed at his shoe, threatening to hurl it at the four legislators, who were 'only' protesting the use of Hindi in the Assembly.

They also allege that Azmi passed some derogatory remarks against them, which enraged them further.

Chaanta Laga: Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi outside the Vidhan Bhavan yesterday.

Whether these allegations are a figment of their imagination or hold some water can only be
speculated.

No regrets

"First of all nobody would bear the insult to Maharashtra that Azmi inflicted. Besides, he also pointed to his shoes at us, which was very derogatory.

He was attacked because of the way he acted," said Shishir Shinde, who has been suspended for four years from the Assembly along with his colleagues Ramesh Wanjale, Ram Kadam and Vasant Geete after yesterday's attack.

Clearly, the MNS leaders showed little regret. "When he was coming down from the dais, Azmi called out to Shinde and then pushed him.

This infuriated the MNS MLAs, who slapped him," said an MNS leader, requesting anonymity.

All on camera: Azmi

While the video recording in the House does show Azmi pointing at his shoe, the SP leader refuted the MNS's claims, so did other eyewitnesses.

"All the allegations are baseless. Neither did I make any derogatory remarks nor did I point my shoe at the MNS leaders.

Everything happened in broad daylight and all is on camera, so there is no reason to lie. If I would have pointed my shoe at them, I would have been taken to task by the ruling party, as I am in the Opposition," Azmi.

He was angry about the fact that the MNS MLAs did not spare PWP's Meenakshi Patil, who rushed to his rescue. "They manhandled her as well while she was shielding me," he added.

Patil along with Baba Siddique and Harshvardhan Patil tried to intervene, but there was no stopping the angry legislators.

One of the few to see the tussle up close, Patil defended Azmi. "I would have come to the aide of any MLA.
u00a0
While he was taking the oath, the MNS MLAs grabbed the mike and started heckling him. While I was escorting him from the dais, they started beating him," she said.

Moreover, she strongly condemned the reason behind the ruckus. "We all have pride in Marathi language, but the Constitution allows one to take the oath in Hindi.

Besides, the Speaker gave Azmi the go ahead. All I wanted was to maintain dignity and decorum of the House and in the bargain I got caught between the two sides," she added.

Most Maratha leaders, including the Shiv Sena, the only other party with the Marathi manoos plank, have ridiculed Raj Thackeray's 'oath in Marathi only' agenda.

Shiv Sena spokesperson and Saamna editor Sanjay Raut said "It is the duty of every citizen of the country to respect the national language.

If anybody had an issue with the use of Hindi, they should have informed the Speaker."

The Drama

The 12th Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra began its three-day special session convened for oath-taking yesterday.

As Pro-term Speaker Ganpatrao Deshmukh called out to Azmi, he strode to the dais. The rampage began
the moment Azmi uttered his first word 'main'.

MNS MLA Ramesh Wanjale rushed to the pulpit and tried to snatch the mike from him. He was joined by his three colleagues Shishir Shinde, Vasant Gite and Ram Kadam.

The MNS members displayed banners propounding the use of Marathi and hurled a sheaf of papers at Meenakshi Patil who had gone up to the podium to help Azmi.

There were attempts to slap Azmi, who hastily read out his oath in Hindi, standing close to u00a0the Speaker's chair and dodging menacing MNS members.

Azmi may sue

Azmi is in no mood to keep mum and let this issue pass. He said, "I will discuss the matter with my party high command and then we will decide on the future course u00a0of action. I am also consulting my lawyers on the legal proceedings."

No problem with English, Sanskrit

While the MNS created a ruckus about Azmi taking oath in Hindi, the party MLAs did not react when Baba Siddique took his oath in English or when BJP MLA Girish Mahajan took the oath in Sanskit yesterday.

Did Azmi really provoke?

A Congress MLA, on the condition of anonymity, said that a few days back Azmi asked for the rules of u00a0u00a0conduct of the House in u00a0Hindi, which he could have done without informing the press.

"There are MLAs who demand the copies even in English or their mother tongue. But this man unnecessarily created a controversy by going public," he added.