Kind attention is invited to the following news item in the Times of India dated 5.11.2009:

 

"Samajwadi Party MLA-elect Abu Asim Azmi on Wednesday said he was determined to take oath in the assembly in Hindi and threatened to lodge an FIR against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray if the latter prevented him from doing so.

Azmi won the recent assembly elections from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar in Mumbai and Bhiwandi East in Thane district and has decided to vacate Bhiwandi seat. Raj had recently demanded that all the 288 new legislators take oath only in Marathi or face his party's wrath.

"I will also file a privilege motion against his 13 MLAs if any of them dare to touch me," Azmi thundered at a press conference organised at Marathi Patrakar Sangh. Calling Raj Thackeray a "kuve ka mendak (frog in a well)", Azmi said, "He can only croak in his own well. But I am not scared of him." He stated that it was his constitutional right to take the oath in Hindi.

Azmi said he was not fluent in Marathi, but had begun taking lessons at home. "I am not learning Marathi because I am afraid of Bal Thackeray or Raj Thackeray. It will help me follow the discussions in the House," he said. He appealed to all Marathi-speaking people not to fall prey to the divide-and-rule policy of the Thackerays.

"If you divide Mumbai into Marathi and non-Marathi, it will destroy its essence of being a cosmopolitan city," he said, adding he condemned the proposal by some MLAs to bring in a "permit system" for those residing in Mumbai. "I could have read the oath in Marathi as the script is Devnagri, but if I do so Raj will get a wrong impression that I am scared of him," Azmi added."