New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS) A brief ruckus was witnessed in the Rajya Sabha Saturday as members expressed dissatisfaction over Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's opening speech on the Lokpal debate in the lower house not being made available in Hindi.


As Mukherjee, after delivering his speech in the Lok Sabha was set to do so in the upper house, several agitated members demanded a Hindi translation of the statement.

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader S.S. Ahluwalia said that the statement not being available in Hindi was a lapse, but opined that the house should proceed and such incident should not be repeated in future.

Order was, however, soon restored as Mukherjee himself apologised. “I am sorry it (the statement in Hindi) is not available. It was decided late night yesterday (Friday),” Mukherjee clarified.

“The situation is moving out of hand, crisis is there, it was decided that I will make a statement. The entire exercise was over at 11 p.m., so it was not possible (to translate it),” he said.

“I agree it was a lapse, I regret a lapse has occurred on my part,” Mukherjee told the upper house.