Abu Azmi assaulted in Assembly for taking oath in Hindi: Four MNS MLAs suspended
Mumbai: The first day of the new Maharashtra assembly went pretty chaotic, with four Maharashtra Navnirman Sena legislators being suspended for assaulting Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Asim Azmi for taking his oath in Hindi. As Azmi began taking his oath in Hindi, several MNS members swooped on him and pushed him aside. Legislator
Ramesh Banjle uprooted the microphone from the podium. As Azmi attempted to save
himself, MNS member Ram Kadam slapped him and hit him on the face and chest, shocking
the 288-member House that had converged for the oath-taking ceremony. The House
was adjourned for 30 minutes. Action followed soon: four MNS legislators
-- Vasant Geete, Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam and Ramesh Wanjale -- were suspended
for four years by the pro-tem speaker for the violent incident. Earlier, Azmi
had expressed his determination to take oath in the national language. Azmi's
announcement had come after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray's
warning to the newly elected legislators asking them to take oath only in Marathi.
Raj Thackeray had challenged Azmi threatening to unleash mob violence in the Maharashtra
Assembly if anybody took oath in Hindi. He had warned that the MNS legislators
would show what they could do in the House.
