A move on the part of Mayor Neeta Thakre to ‘walkout’ during the general body meeting left the House stunned by the move. The meeting was called on Thursday at Niyojan Bhavan, Sadar, and as members of Opposition, mainly Congress and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to cross each other, a visibly disturbed Mayor chose to sort of ‘walkout’ to display her displeasure over not giving due respect to the Chair.

 

It was an unprecedented event not witnessed in NMC House meeting till date, said senior members as corporators juggled over Marathi vs Hindi debate. The House was functioning smoothly when the issue of usage of language Marathi vs Hindi on part of members while raising questions led to eruption of row. Earlier, Congress’ nominated member and first timer in the House, Ketan Thakre, made a point that since Marathi is prevalent in Maharashtra, members be advised to speak only in Marathi. He further referred to insistence on the part of Transport Department, making it compulsory for auto and taxi drivers to converse in Marathi. Thakre’s suggestion came in response to the statement made by the Education Committee Chairperson Santoshi Laddha on a question relating to organising Dindi as part of Ekadashi.

 

The trouble began when the Congress bench member Wasim Khan requested the Mayor to grant permission for speaking in Hindi even as he informed about his attempts to learn Marathi. Seizing the opportunity, some BJP members tried to corner the Congress on the matter and this led to commotion in the House. The Mayor tried to pacify the warring groups and tried to restore order and even senior BJP members intervened but the aggressive corporators from each side refused to listen to reason. Seeing the unresponsive House, the Mayor chose to excuse herself from the House, without formally adjourning the proceedings, as is the procedure. Even then the members warring and arguing with each other did not know that the Mayor had walked out of the House. The drama continued for nearly 15 minutes and when sense prevailed the order was restored and Mayor returned to continue with the remaining agenda. The issue again brought to light absence of tight control of senior party leaders. With the House missing stalwarts, the new entrants to House are by-passing rules putting decorum of the House at stake.