BHOPAL: ‘Pappu’ is off Madhya Pradesh legislators’ lexicon. So is ‘Feku’. They have been listed as ‘unparliamentary’ in a dictionary of sorts that MLAs here will be given to make them aware of what words to avoid if the coming monsoon session goes on the boil.
Within a fortnight, MLAs will undergo two days of mandatory training on avoiding unparliamentary language in the House, Speaker Girish Gautam said. The handbook – the first such in MP -- is ready and will be given to legislators any day. The monsoon session begins on August 9.
“Often, MLAs use unparliamentary words in the House, which have to be expunged from their address. The purpose of this exercise is to inform members of the words they must not use in assembly,” Gautam said.
There are approximately 300 such words in the handbook. Among the printable ones are ‘murkh, chor, nalayak and bewakoof ’.
Interestingly, ‘jhooth’ (lie) is also considered unparliamentary.
Handbook prepared in 3 mnths: Officials
Officials said it took three months to come up with the list and prepare the handbook. It will help maintain decorum in the House, said the Speaker. Lok Sabha already has a list of words not to be used in the House, and this was a ready reckoner for the MP handbook.
With no love lost between the two main parties, especially since the toppling of the Congress govt and return of BJP in the beginning of the pandemic, things may get heated when MLAs come face to face in the House. The monsoon session is from August 9 to 12, during which the House will discuss second supplementary estimates in view of the economic crunch due to Covid. “This will be a full-time session with question hour, zero hour, adjournment and call attention,” home and legislative affairs minister Narottam Mishra said on July 12. Now that lockdown has been lifted and Covid numbers are among the lowest in the country, all MLAs are allowed to be physically present in assembly. The option of virtual attendance is still there.
