Many BJP MPs, led by ministers, take oath in Sanskrit

Sanskrit seemed to the flavor of the new Lok Sabha Thursday with many members of the ruling party, led by three union ministers, choosing the classical language to take oath.

It was a surprise when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj used fluent Sanskrit to take oath followed by Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

It was soon apparent, however, that many members of the party had consciously taken the decision possibly to bring the language back into focus.

While Sushma Swaraj, who has a graduate degree in Sanskrit, was fluent, many, including New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi were seen fumbling even while reading out the oath.

Harsh Vardhan and Uma Bharti too showed their expertise at the language. While the health minister studied at Sanskrit Victoria Jubilee Senior Secondary School in Delhi, Uma Bharti has since childhood, showed keen interest in religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita.

Others who took oath in Sanskrit included East Delhi MP Maheish Girri, West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma and Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) MP Shanta Kumar.

Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest number of MPs in the Lok Sabha as well as the maximum BJP MPs from the state, also saw a sizeable number of oath takers in Sanskrit like Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath, Gautam Buddhanagar MP Mahesh Sharma and Meerut MP Rajendra Agrawal.