Happy Birthday, Madam Speaker! MPs Serenade Sumitra Mahajan In Parliament

New Delhi: Here’s something you may not see every day. Members of Parliament cutting across party lines joined in to wish Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on her birthday today. At the beginning of the Parliament session this morning, the Speaker was greeted with applause as she walked in. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar addressed the Speaker on behalf of the MPs. Here's what he said: Aap swasth rahein, deerghaayu rahein, aur yashasvi rahein. Yehi prarthana karte hain. Yehi kaamna karte hain. Aur, aapke netratva mein, is sadan ka kaarykaal dhang se chale (We hope you remain healthy, have a long life and may you continue to prosper. We pray and wish that under your leadership, the House continues to function smoothly.)"

To this, the Speaker jokingly responded: "Daante rahein? Yeh to nahi kaha naa? Thank you (Keep scolding you? I hope you didn't wish for that). 



On Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his wishes to the Speaker
 

Birthday wishes to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan ji. Praying for her long and healthy life.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 12, 2017

A series of tweets from other ministers and politicians followed. Sumitra Mahajan was briefly trending on Twitter as well.
 

Warm wishes to Lok Sabha Speaker Smt. Sumitra Mahajan on her birthday today. May she be blessed with good health and long life.

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) April 12, 2017

 

Warm birthday greetings to the LS Speaker Smt. #SumitraMahajan ji. May she be blessed with good health, long life & a successful year ahead.

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) April 12, 2017

 

Birthday wishes to Sumitra Mahajan ji, a distinguished Parliamentarian & exemplary Lok Sabha Speaker. I pray for her long life & good health

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 12, 2017

 

Birthday greetings to Hon'ble @LoksabhaSpeaker, Smt. Sumitra Mahajan ji. May you be blessed with good health & continue to serve the nation.

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) April 12, 2017

 

wish Sumitra Mahajan Ji warmly on her B'day. Rare combination of an unblemished career, extreme competence & respect of all. #sumitramahajan

— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) April 12, 2017

The Lok Sabha MP from Indore is the second woman to be elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha after Meira Kumar.​ She turns 73 today. 

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