Unparliamentary words booklet not a rule book, says Madhya Pradesh assembly speaker Girish Gautam

BHOPAL: After a demand by Congress and BJP MLAs to include a few 'unparliamentary words' like 'Mr Bantadhar' and 'Mamu' in house proceedings, Madhya Pradesh assembly speaker Girish Gautam, clarified on Tuesday that the booklet of unparliamentary words and phrases is not a rule book and is yet to be updated. He further said that the words mentioned in the book have not been selected (for deletion) or cancelled in the House.
In reply to a letter written by BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma, Gautam said that the booklet is merely a collection of unparliamentary words and phrases used during House proceedings since 1954.
"There is no need to write a letter for including or excluding any word in the booklet released by the assembly. We have neither selected any word nor cancelled what has been mentioned in the booklet. The unparliamentary words were selected from assemblies of Madhya Pradesh, Vindhya Pradesh and Nagpur. These words were expunged from the records during the printing of House proceedings," said Gautam.
The Speaker also clarified that no instructions have been issued to expunge these (unparliamentary) words from the House proceedings and it was not fair to say that the words have been expunged from the assembly. "I request you to go through the book," he said.
Earlier on Monday, BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma had demanded to restore words like 'Bantadhar' and 'Naxalwadi' in the booklet of unparliamentary words used in the assembly, which was released on Sunday. In a letter to the speaker, Sharma had said that Bantadhar was coined by the public against 10 year misrule of Digvijaya Singh-led Congress government in the state.
The Congress leaders had also demanded to include words like 'Mamu', 'Dhongi', 'Jhutha', 'Pakhandi' and `Bikau' claiming that these words were coined by the public against BJP leaders. Unfortunately, during the two-day Monsoon session of assembly both Congress and BJP skipped the Speakers instructions to maintain decorum of the House and hurled unparliamentary words at each other.
The BJP went into the electoral fray in 2003 under the leadership of Uma Bharti by claiming that former Congress chief minister Digvijaya Singh is a spoilsport (Mr Bantadhar). The saffron party returned to power by hitting a hat-trick with the same slogan. Similarly, Congress used `Mamu' and "Ghoshnaveer" against Shivraj Singh Chouhan.