Humour in speeches declining amid fear of misinterpretation, laments Fadnavis

Mumbai: Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday lamented the decline of humour in speeches, stating that the "absolute joy" of witty speeches is fading as people now exercise "utmost precaution" to avoid being misinterpreted.Speaking at the Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Diwas celebration at the Vidhan Bhavan here, Fadnavis said that when humour is sometimes linked to one's identity unnecessarily and taken out of context, it tends to lose its shine.
The state government observes Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of poet V V Shirwadkar, a Jnanpith awardee who wrote under the pen name ‘Kusumagraj'."When humour is sometimes linked to one's identity (unnecessarily) and taken out of context, it loses its shine. People have started using humour with utmost precaution. The absolute joy from a speech sprinkled with humour has now reduced significantly," he said.Highlighting the legacy of Marathi, Fadnavis said that the language had contributed immensely to society and governance."Marathi language has given us a lot. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj created a dictionary for the official language of his kingdom. He removed words from other languages and replaced them with local words," he said.Referring to the Centre's decision to grant classical language status to Marathi, he credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the recognition."Our language is rich, and at the same time, it has variations. As I hail from the Vidarbha region, my diction was unacceptable here. I changed subsequently," Fadnavis said, underlining the diversity in the language.He said the British ruled the world and, hence, the English language became global and people learned it, some because they had no choice."Once we instil the feeling that by learning Marathi, people can progress and prosper, the future of the language will be better," he said.He asserted that creating opportunities linked to the language would ensure its continued relevance and growth.