Karnataka Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri expunges ‘unparliamentary’ Kannada word

Pandemonium prevailed in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday after senior Congress leader KR Ramesh Kumar hurled a Kannada word that Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri expunged for being “unparliamentary”.

Kumar, a former Speaker, uttered the word when he grew impatient during Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar’s reply on the Covid-19 debate. Sudhakar was explaining the process that was involved in the procurement of PPE kits during the pandemic amid allegations that the government paid more than necessary for them.

“He is justifying the variation in prices at which (PPE kits) were procured. He is saying they were first procured for about Rs 300 after which the cost went up and there were various committees. These committees had great people. Just because great people did xxxxx work, is that great work?” Kumar said, enraging Sudhakar and other BJP members.

Objecting to the word, RDPR Minister KS Eshwarappa asked Kumar to apologize. “Is it okay if I say Ramesh Kumar is xxxxx?” he said. “That’s a word used by rowdy elements. We beat our kids if they use that word at home.”

Amid the din, Speaker Kageri directed his staff to check the rule book on whether the word used by Kumar was parliamentary or unparliamentary.

Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi said the word used by Kumar was wrong. “There are parliamentary words that can cause hurt. But as a senior member, you shouldn’t have used that word. Can we say, what you did when you were the Speaker was xxxxx?” Savadi said.

Kumar asked Savadi to give him a better Kannada word as “my vocabulary isn’t that great.”

Kumar said that it was up to Kageri to decide if the word he used was unparliamentary. “I will apologize if it was unparliamentary. I’m not justifying it. I said that emotionally,” he said.

“What I was saying was that Sudhakar is going on justifying the price variation. All we want to know is, did the government pay more during procurement? Instead, our patience is being put to test,” he said, urging the BJP members to give him a more suitable word that he can use.

Finally, Kageri ruled that the word was ‘unparliamentary’. “We have a book of words, but I’m unable to immediately find this word in it. Earlier, the term ‘halkat nan maga’ was used here that was expunged. The word used now will henceforth be unparliamentary and will be expunged,” Kageri said, after which Kumar apologized.