The Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, scolded a farmer on Tuesday for using too many “English terms” when recounting his wonderful life’s adventure.
At the Bapu Sabhagar auditorium, the speaker introduced himself as Amit Kumar from Lakhisarai. The event was held to celebrate the launch of the state government’s “fourth agriculture roadmap.”
In his opening remarks, Kumar praised the chief minister for establishing an atmosphere that allowed him, a management graduate with a promising profession in Pune, to have the guts to throw it all up and start mushroom farming in his home area.
The septuagenarian CM, who remained in his seat but interrupted the agro-entrepreneur using a portable microphone, cut the agro-entrepreneur off just a few minutes into his speech.
“I want to point out to you the incongruity of using so many English words. Is it England? You are working in Bihar, practising agriculture which is the profession of the common folks,” said Kumar, evoking applause from the crowd.
The CM expressed the opinion that “smartphone addiction during the Covid-induced lockdowns” had caused many people to “forget their own languages.” The CM was a fervent supporter of the legendary socialist Ram Manohar Lohia, who promoted the cause of vernacular languages as one of the many tools to be used to remove social inequality.
The startled speaker resumed, only to receive criticism for using the phrase “government plans” a short while later.
“What is this? Can you not say sarkaari yojana? I am an engineer by training and my medium of instruction was English. But it is another thing to use the language for academic pursuits. Why must you do so in day-to-day life?” he said.
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The Lakhisarai representative then apologised before continuing.
The BJP, which has long shared power with Kumar and has been sobbing since the JD(U) leader abandoned it six months ago, found a rod to bash its old ally within the situation.
“Is CM Nitish Kumar annoyed with English language itself or with its usage by the subalterns? His objection to the use of English words in a public address is absolutely ridiculous,” said state BJP leader and its OBC Morcha national general secretary Nikhil Anand.
“Carried away by the passion of daydream, Nitish ji is suffering from political hysteria”, added the BJP leader, in an indirect reference to the “national ambitions” of the JD(U) leader who has maintained that he is not an aspirant for Prime Ministership.
