 "Awkward: When women of Kerala became criminals of Kerala")
Election campaigns in the southern states have a different flavour, but what adds even more colour are the live translations of speeches that leaders from other states make.
In a recent example, CPM politburo member, Brinda Karat, this week, found herself in an awkward position when the translator made a hash of it while trying to translate her speech to Malayalam. The video of this translation gaffe has now gone viral in Kerala. Karat was commenting on the rape and murder of a law student in Perumbavoor but the translator kept adding his own bits to her words forcing her to interject and say those are not her words. “And it is only through these multiple efforts...," said Karat and the translator said in Malayalam “It is only possible through ballot papers.” When Karat says "women of Kerala", he called it "criminals of Kerala".
Watch the video here from 12th minute onwards
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been at the receiving end of poor translations twice in the past.
The PM was caught in a bad translation muddle in Tamil Nadu recently. At Kanyakumari on May 8, 2016, the PM said that his government was instrumental in rescuing thousands of Keralites and Tamils who were stranded in Yemen. The state BJP President, Tamilisai Soundararajan then tried to translate it live into Tamil and didn't really do a good job of it. He translated, "The Centre has freed several Tamils, who were bonded labourers in Mumbai."
Back in December 2015, at Thrissur, the PM tried apologizing to the gathered public for arriving late but the translator, K Surendran, the BJP general secretary in Kerala, translated it to something else sending the others present on the dias in a tizzy.
“First of all I have to apologize to the people here in Kerala because I am late in coming here. I should have come sooner. But now, I promise that this will not happen,” said the Prime Minister but the BJP general secretary translated it in Malayalam as, "I am very happy to arrive here in Kerala. From a long time, I have made regular visits to Kerala. But now the situation here in Kerala is not the same. There are big changes taking places here. I am very happy." Snippets from this video then went viral in Kerala. After a brief interruption, the translator later corrected when the error was pointed out.