After 7-year battle, retired financial institution officer from Kerala alters ‘aaya njan’ to ‘enna njan’ in oath ceremony

Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When Pinarayi Vijayan was sworn in because the chief minister final Thursday, he solemnly affirmed his allegiance to the Constitution by beginning the oath in Malayalam as ‘Pinarayi Vijayan aaya Njan’. On Monday, when he took the oath as an MLA, it was modified to ‘Pinarayi Vijayan enna Njan’.

Not solely Pinarayi, all of the MLAs who took oath in Malayalam used ‘enna njan’, a extra correct translation of the oath within the Constitution that begins as ‘I…’, drifting away from the apply of utilizing ‘aaya njan’. The change within the Malayalam model of oath was the results of a seven-year-long battle by a retired financial institution supervisor right here.

73-year-old Varghese Alexander began his correspondence with varied authorities companies to right the coordinating conjunction ‘aaya’ to ‘enna’ after he listened to the Lok Sabha swearing in ceremony on 2014. LDF MP Innocent who was elected from Chalakudy started the oath in Malayalam as ‘Innocent aaya Njan’. “That meant he is innocent while his intention was to say ‘I, Innocent’. I found a problem there. When there is a proper word ‘enna’ in Malayalam why do they use ‘aaya’?” Alexander informed TNIE. 

He came upon that the error was within the Malayalam model of Indian Constitution wherein the format of oath is printed. His associates within the meeting secretariat informed him that there couldn’t be any change so long as the printed textual content was corrected. Alexander then approached the official language division of the state authorities with a request to revise the Malayalam translation.

Alexander’s suggestion was famous by the then secretary Okay Suresh Kumar who forwarded a proposal to the Official Language (Legislative) Commission and Committee on Official Languages of the Assembly. A yr later, each our bodies acknowledged that the suggestion of Alexander is legitimate. However, there was no change within the format when the brand new cabinet and new meeting had been sworn in in 2016. When he checked with officers, the reply was that the revised model of translated Constitution was not revealed by then.

When the counting was over this time, Alexander reminded the Legislative Assembly secretary of the difficulty. “I was disappointed when the ministers were sworn in using the old translation. Hence, this was a big surprise for me,” he stated after watching the swearing in of MLAs on TV. The logistical delay in getting new copies earlier than the swearing in of the cabinet prompted the Raj Bhavan officers to make use of the previous model of the translated Constitution. 

“We rightfully acknowledge the suggestion of Alexander. The new copies of Malayalam version of Constitution were ready last week and we could provide them to new MLAs today (Monday),” stated S V Unnikrishnan Nair, secretary, Kerala Legislative Assembly.

“Even the Devikulam MLA who took oath in Tamil used ‘entra njan’ today,” he stated. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy, who took the oath for the twelfth time, inadvertently used ‘Oommen Chandy aaya njan’ as had been the apply, although the guide with him carried the revised translation.