NEW DELHI: RSS leader Bhaiyyaji Joshi’s remarks that those coming to Mumbai need not learn Marathi, has provoked a strong reaction from Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray.
Thackeray on Thursday asserted that it is not possible and the language of Maharashtra will remain Marathi.
RSS Senior leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, speaking at a program in Mumbai on Wednesday, said that those coming to Mumbai need not learn Marathi. He also said that Gujarati is the “language of the Ghatkopar area in Mumbai.”
Reacting to this, Thackeray said, “People from outside come to our state and settle here. However, the language of this land is Marathi, just like Tamil is in Tamil Nadu and Kannada is in Karnataka. The ideology of the BJP is to keep disrespecting Maharashtra.”
“Yesterday, Suresh Bhaiyya ji said that the language in Ghatkopar could be Gujarati, but this is absolutely not possible. The language of Mumbai is Marathi. This government even halted the Marathi Bhasha Bhavan in Mumbai because they want to disrespect Maharashtra and the Marathi language,” Aditya Thackeray added.
On February 16, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis reaffirmed the government’s commitment to preserving Marathi education, stating that no Marathi school would be closed.
Speaking to reporters, CM said, “We have constantly given instructions that no Marathi school should be closed. Secondly, we have made it compulsory to teach Marathi in schools, be it Marathi or Hindi schools. And we are setting up a mechanism to ensure that this instruction is followed properly.”
This comes amid an ongoing war of words between Tamil Nadu and the Centre over the three-language policy. Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has objected to what he describes as the “Hindi Imposition” on the state.
In counter to this, the BJP launched a door-to-door campaign in support of the three-language policy proposed in the new Education Policy