TMC criticises Mulayam's comment on English ban in Parliament

"I love and respect all languages - be it local, regional, national or international," the West Bengal Chief Minister said in a Facebook post, without naming the Samajwadi Party chief.

Stating that people used their mother tongue most of the time, the TMC supremo said, "... at the same time one uses so many other languages also."

Earlier, TMC spokesperson and Chief Whip of the party in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien said, "The anti-English comments in politics is worrying. It represents disconnect with energies of new India and today's youth."

Stating that English was important for jobs and the modern economy, O'Brien said, "We in Bengal suffered for decades due to Left Front government's ban on English teaching at primary education level."

"Love all languages, including your mother tongue," he said.

In her Facebook post, the Chief Minister further said, "Whenever we meet people from other countries we make efforts to use their languages also a bit."

Saying that her mother tongue is Bengali, she said that she also speaks English, Hindi, Urdu and understood a bit of Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Kannada.

"But I need to learn South Indian languages and say ?Namaskara?, ?Vannakam? ?Namaskaram?," she added.

Stating that language is a means of communication and sharing one's views, Banerjee said, "I do respect all languages and such a respect unifies a region, a State and the entire world as one 'large family'."

Yadav had yesterday said that MPs should be banned from making speeches in English in Parliament.