Bhubaneswar: Opposition Congress on Friday hit back at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his lack of knowledge in Odia language despite being in power for 12 years and dubbed him as a "person having no feeling towards the state and its people."
"The chief minister cannot cry for the state as he
does not understand, read, write or speak Odia language. If
one cannot understand the language of the people, how can he
cry for them," asked Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan
while speaking during the zero hour.
Harichandan, on the other hand, claimed that the
opposition Congress leaders in the state understand, speak,
read and write Odia language and is well acquainted with the
feelings of the people. "We have emotion and therefore can cry
for the people of the state," the Congress leader said.
"Though Patnaik is sometimes speaking in Odia, he is
simply ridiculing the language by making distorted
pronunciation. Odia people tolerate this mockery of the
language," Harichandan said expressing displeasure over the
chief minister's lack of knowledge in the state's language.
The opposition's criticism of the chief minister in
the assembly came barely two days after Patnaik asking the
Congress MLAs not to shed "crocodile's tear" over the welfare
of the state, particularly on mining issue.
Patnaik, while making a statement on Tuesday, had termed
the opposition Congress' worries over the mining issue as
nothing but the shedding crocodile's tear.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 23, 2011, 22:47