Mumbai:
The “Hindi imposition” row has spread from the south to Maharashtra, with the state government’s move to introduce Hindi as a compulsory third language for the primary section in Marathi and English-medium schools. The Opposition Congress and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had voiced strong objections.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray, in a post on X, slammed today’s order as well as the Centre’s three-language policy.
Mr Thackeray – whose party wants a “Marathi first” policy — had spoken out about south’s resistance against Hindi earlier too, saying Maharashtra should follow their example.
Today’s post from the MNS chief, though, was far sharper and directly targeted the Centre.
“Whatever your trilingual formula is, limit it to government affairs, do not bring it to education,” he wrote. The MNS, he added, “will not allow the Central government’s current efforts to ‘Hindi-ify’ everything, to succeed in this state”.
“We are Hindus but not Hindi! If you try to paint Maharashtra as Hindi, then there is bound to be a struggle in Maharashtra. If you look at all this, you will realize that the government is deliberately creating this struggle. Is this all an attempt to create a struggle between Marathi and non-Marathi in the upcoming elections and take advantage of it?” he added.
Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar demanded that the state government should immediately withdraw the notification on the introduction of Hindi as a compulsory third language. “The mother tongue of Maharashtra is Marathi, but Marathi and English are used in education and administration. In such a situation, forcibly imposing Hindi as a third language is an injustice to Marathi and an attack on the identity of Marathi speakers,” he said.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has defended the state’s move and praised the Centre’s language policy.
“If anyone wants to learn English, they can learn English. If anyone wants to learn any other language, there is no prohibition on anyone from learning other languages. Everyone should know Marathi. Also, other languages of our country should be known. The Central Government has thought about this. The Central Government thinks that there should be a language of communication in our country. This effort has been made,” the Chief Minister said.
“Marathi is our primary language, but Hindi, being the national language, should also be respected. In Maharashtra, we will naturally speak Marathi, but Hindi should also be included in education,” said state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
The resistance to Hindi in classrooms in the south is being spearheaded by Tamil Nadu, which has a two-language policy and is under Central pressure to introduce a third.
The state’s ruling DMK has alleged that the National Education Policy is meant to enforce a cultural homogenization that will rob India of its diversity and the southern states of their distinct cultural identity.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had claimed that 25 Indian languages, including Marathi, had suffered because several states adopted Hindi. His son Udhayanidhi Stalin had even given a list of languages that are on the verge of dying out for lack of use.