India, July 29 -- A minor technical snag in the Lok Sabha's translation device triggered a language row on Tuesday, as the Opposition demanded BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey to deliver his speech in English instead of Hindi.

Dubey, who began his address in Hindi, refused to switch languages despite the broken translator. "This is Lok Sabha's technical problem, not mine. I only know Hindi, so I'll speak in Hindi," he said.

When asked to switch to English, he hit back, saying, "It's a foreign language. If you'd asked me to speak in Tamil or Bengali, I would've been glad."

Dilip Saikia, who was in the Chair, informed the House that translation services were being restored, but the Opposition continued pressing for Dubey to switch languages....