Mumbai zoo Penguins to get Marathi names? BJP’s unique suggestion

Dubai: The penguins in the Mumbai Zoo in India gave birth to penguin chicks recently. And pretty soon the adorable moment turned interesting when a BJP leader demanded the chicks be given Marathi names.

Yes, you heard that right.

According to reports in India, BJP leader, Nitin Bankar, from the Byculla Assembly constituency led a demonstration arguing that the birds be given Marathi names.

Bankar said, “When Penguins were brought from abroad to the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Udyan and Zoo (known as Rani Baug), we accepted that their names would be in English. However, chicks born here, on the soil of Maharashtra, should be given Marathi names.”

“We stood firm on our demand but it was ignored. I had even written to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) administration, but no one responded,” he added when he spoke about how he made several appeals for this to be considered.

Netizens on social media, however, began making memes and made suggestions as a joke.

One user commented, “Now the penguins will have marathi food like missal pav, vada pav.”

Some users suggested names for the penguin chicks. One user said, “Pinglesh, Penglya, Pengdya, Pendinkya. Or let’s take it a step further with full names: Pengya Patil, Penglu Pawar, Penglesh Paardkar, Pengu Paranjpe.”