CHENNAI: Newly elected BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran on Tuesday put his linguistic prowess to test in the Assembly to make a case for the trilingual policy vehemently pushed by his party-led Union government. Nagenthran spoke in fluent Malayalam and a bit of broken Telugu besides mother tongue Tamil to emphasise the importance of NEP promoting trilingual policy.

Speaking on the high-level committee announced by Chief Minister M K Stalin during the Zero Hour in the House, Nagenthran referred to Ambedkar’s initial apprehensions about linguistic reorganisation of states and blamed the Congress for the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST). Defending the GST implementation, the BJP MLA packed some statistics in his speech and said, “If my memory serves me right,” states were apportioned their due share of tax funds under GST from SGST. Casually joining the issue with him, Stalin congratulated Nainar again on his elevation as the TN BJP president and said, “Need not make a big fuss because he himself said he is unsure of his memory.” Nainar reciprocated and said, “The Chief Minister wished me over the phone even yesterday. This is how one must speak in the House.” A witty Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu joined the debate and instantly vouched for the “good memory” of Nagenthran.

A nostalgic Nainar refused to yield and recalled how former Congress MLA Gopinath spoke in Telugu in the TNLA and then chief minister Jayalalithaa replied in Telugu. Nagenthran even attempted a few lines in Telugu to prove his point and left the House in splits when he said, “Annan (elder brother) KN Nehru, Velu and KKSSR speak Telugu. Please correct me if my Telugu is wrong.”

Realising the pun in Nainar’s statement, a sharp Thennarasu silenced him by adding, “After becoming the state president of the party (BJP), perhaps, he is trying to make a bid for the party’s national president post by speaking in so many languages.” Finally, Nainar led his MLAs out after registering dissent to the CM’s announcement.