BJP legislator Vanathi Srinivasan urged the Assembly on Wednesday to do away with the practice of referring to the first speech of a newly elected member as “maiden speech”.
She said if an MLA was speaking for the first time in the House, it could be termed as “first [debut] speech” or “introductory speech”. The usage of “maiden speech” (kanni pechu in Tamil) can be avoided in the future, she said.
The word kanni means a spinster, and so a better word can be used for such speeches, she said.
Speaker M. Appavu responded, “These days, it is not being used. I accept it [to avoid the term maiden].”
