Kottayam (Kerala): A newly elected representative to the Kottayam Municipal Council in Kerala took his oath in Sanskrit and triggered an uproar in the council, here on Monday.
Following the local body elections, the newly elected representatives took their oath and assumed their respective offices across the Local Self Governance institutions in the State on Monday. At Kottayam Municipality, the ceremony triggered an uproar as a group of participants at the Council objected to the representative of Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) taking his oath in Sanskrit, which is neither the official language in Kerala nor a language which others at the council could understand.
K Shankaran, the BJP representative from Kannadikkadavil - ward number 41- in Kottayam, took his oath in Sanskrit. Immediately after Shankaran completed his oath, the members of other parties and participants at the ceremony raised their objection as Sanskrit is not a common language in Kerala. Some of them maintained that as Malayalam is the administrative language, the oath-taking must be done in Malayalam in Kerala. They said that taking oath in Sanskrit is like insulting Malayalam.
When the Returning Officer informed that a representative can take his oath in any of the languages recognised by the Indian Constitution, one group of the protestors withdrew. However, some demanded that his oath must be cross verified as none among the participants knew Sanskrit and nobody could understand whether Shankaran has missed any part of the oath.
Finally, when the authorities reminded that continuing with the uproar would only make the ceremony chaotic, the protestors settled and stopped.
Two representatives, T R Anil Kumar and Jayachandran, who are under COVID quarantine reached the Council wearing PPE kits and took their oaths.
The Returning Officer read out the oath to the eldest elected representative to the Council, Mollykutty Sebastian, and she, in turn, read it out for all other representatives in the Council. Then, the first Council meeting was also conducted chaired by the eldest representative.
