VP Jha defends his swearing in Hindi

Even as students across the country have protested vice president Parmananda Jha for taking oath in Hindi language, he has defended his action.

Vice president Parmananda Jha. (File Photo)

Talking to BBC Nepali Service, Friday, VP Jha said that Hindi is also a mother-tongue of (some community) in Nepal.

“As per the census, there are around 200,000 people whose mother-tongue is Hindi,” VP Jha said.

He also rejected accusations that using Hindi language would, in any way, undermine nationality and integrity.

Although he himself is a native Maithili speaker, VP Jha said he chose to take oath in Hindi because it was a common language understood by Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi and other lingual groups of Madhes region.

Responding to the filing of a writ petition against his swearing in Hindi at the Supreme Court, VP Jha – who is a former judge - said he would abide by the court decision. He, however, claimed that his taking of oath in Hindi language had not breached the interim constitution. nepalnews.com sd Jul 26 08