Cuttack: Cuttack Sadar MLA Prakash Sethi is drawing flak for his English speech during the inaugural ceremony of Bali Jatra in Odisha’ Cuttack city with foreign dignitaries in attendance.
This year, for the first time, ambassadors, high commissioners, and diplomats from 14 ASEAN, BIMSTEC, and Pacific countries attended the fair.
The legislators is being questioned for his decision to address the gathering in English despite his visible lack of command over the language. More so when the emphasis of this year’s festival is on ‘Odia Asmita‘ with concerted effort being made to put the annual festival, commemorating its maritime heritage, on the world map.
The MLA’s garbled English had people shaking their head in shame amid burst of laughter. It was coarse reminder of Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘I can talk English, I can walk English’ dialogue from the movie ‘Namak Halaal’. The blunders here, however, were a little way to0 many to ignore. And one could hardly understand the gist and essence of his speech and what he intended to convey.
Here is how he described the rich maritime history of Odisha:
“Cuttack legacy as the centre of maritime also economically dynamism… Maritime is the Bali Jatra… its a hoes to Bali… its a Bali is the eastern of the Java… so it is a lots of people… business people to transport the good… only not the good …. so it will also find in the Bali Jatra.. also culture and tradition also art… People see different tradition so find in need in Cuttack Bali Jatra..feel the proud…And thanks to our government doing this 2024 Bali Jatra and inviting all 14 high commander from different countries…Thanks upon you…”
His praise for Cuttack was equally gibberish:
“In Cuttack also, lot of business office is there… Cuttack is the old capital of Odisha…it depends on business traction in Cuttack…so many people came… also see them hospital… is the biggest hospital in Cuttack… In this SCB Medical…So people will came here…so you will get better treatment…also lots of office also in Cuttack…See lots of things benefitted here…So lots of people came from the different state also… so better for the tourism also…so we have the request to the high commissioners stoo cooperate the Odisha government…to make the Odisha here place… so tourism place… we have cater to tourist people to do here… So tourism you can grow there and economically go!”
Here is how an X user reacted to his speech:
“Oxford Dictionary compilers are reportedly in tears, watching Cuttack BJP MLA’s bombastic English unfold. Words have turned so wild and exaggerated, even Shakespeare would raise an eyebrow.”
Later speaking to the media, the MLA justified his choice of language, considering the presence of foreign dignitaries. “If we want to take Odia Asmita to the world, we have to speak in English since it is the language that they understand,” he said.
When asked about the impression his ‘horrible’ English would have created among the delegates about people of Odisha and their knowledge of the language, he said: “They are acquainted with Indian people and speak English properly.”
