Maha BJP leader demands Marathi name for penguins born in Mumbai zoo

After the recent political uproar in Maharashtra over the use of the Marathi language, BJP leader Nitin Bankar is now demanding that the penguins born at the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Udyan (Byculla Zoo) be given Marathi names.

Bankar took to social media platform X, stating that the penguins born on the soil of Maharashtra should be given names in the Marathi language.

He pointed out that while it was acceptable to give English names to the penguins that were initially brought from abroad, the ones born in Maharashtra should have Marathi names.

On Tuesday, Nitin Bankar, along with other BJP party members, protested outside the Byculla Zoo, demanding that Marathi names be given to the penguins born there.

One of the penguin chicks, named Oscar, was born in Mumbai in August 2021 to a pair of Penguin named Mr Molt and Flipper who were brought from Seoul in 2016.

Spread over lush green 50-acres in south Mumbai’s Byculla, the VJB Zoo is among the oldest in the country, run by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).