From Dogri to Sanskrit, new MPs take oath in Indian languages as 18th Lok Sabha commences

"Krishna, Guruvayurappa", said Suresh Gopi, the first Bharatiya Janata Party MP to be elected from Kerala as he was about to take oath as a member of the 18th Lok Sabha.

Gopi's invocation to the deity was followed by his oath in his mother tongue, Malayalam. Gopi was elected from Thrissur and has been handed the duty of being the Minister of State (MoS) for Tourism and Petroleum.

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This year, linguistic diversity was on display with the newly-elected MPs taking their oaths in English and other languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, reported PTI.

These languages included Sanskrit, Hindi, Dogri, Assamese, Odia and others.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took his oath in Hindi amid slogans of "Jai Shri Ram" from the treasury benches.

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Other ministers such as Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Annapurna Devi, Jyotiraditya Scindia and ML Khattar were among those who took the oath in Hindi.

Amid "NEET, NEET" slogans being raised by the opposition following the recent debacle surrounding the national medical entrance exam, education minister and Sambalpur MP, Dharmendra Pradhan took his oath in Odia.

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Shripad Yesso Naik, minister of state for power and renewable energy, took his oath in Sanskrit. He was elected for the sixth time from the North Goa constituency.

Sukanta Majumdar, MoS for education and development of North Eastern region, took his oath in Bengali.

Pune MP and MoS for Aviation Muralidhar Mohol took his oath in Marathi.

Union Minister Jitender Singh elected Udhampur in J&K took his oath in Dogri while, aviation minister Rammohan Naidu took it in Telugu. Coal and mines Minister G Kishan Reddy also took his oath in Telugu.

MP from Assam's Dibrugarh and union minister of port and shipping Sarbananda Sonowal took his oath in Assamese.

Steel and heavy industries minister HD Kumaraswamy and consumer affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi took their oath in Kannada.

However, BJP MP from Saran in Bihar Rajiv Pratap Rudy rued that he could not take his oath in Bhojpuri, reported PTI.

(with inputs from PTI)