Only Marathi will be compulsory, no attempt to impose Hindi, says CM Fadnavis

Mumbai, April 21 (IANS) Amid raging controversy over the introduction of Hindi as a compulsory language in Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English schools in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has clarified that it is wrong to say that there is an attempt to impose the language. He said only Marathi will be compulsory, and there will be no other compulsion.

CM Fadnavis said, “Hindi has not been made mandatory in place of Marathi. Only Marathi is mandatory. But the New Education Policy has given the opportunity to learn three languages. Learning three languages is mandatory. There is a rule that out of these three languages, two must be Indian. Therefore, we have made Marathi mandatory among the two Indian languages. What is the other language? So if you take any Indian language, you will have to take Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati or any other. You cannot take anything outside these.”

“The steering committee in its report said if Hindi is kept as the third language, then we have teachers available for it. Therefore, there will be no need for more teachers. If other languages are kept, then teachers are not available; that is the committee’s recommendation. There is no encroachment anywhere in this,” he said.

Speaking about learning languages other than Hindi, CM Fadnavis said, “If anyone wants to learn a language other than Hindi, we will give them full permission to learn it. Because such permission has been given by the New Education Policy. However, if there are at least 20 students, a teacher can be provided to them, but if there are fewer than that, then the language will have to be taught online or in a different way. Such teachers are also available in our border areas, and there is a bilingual system. But it is wrong to say that there is an attempt to impose Hindi. Only Marathi will be compulsory in Maharashtra. There will be no other compulsion.”

He further remarked, "I am surprised that we oppose Indian languages like Hindi and sing the praises of English. We carry English on our shoulders. We should also think about why we feel English is close and Indian languages are far away.”

The chief minister’s clarification comes amid strong objections by opposition parties. Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has announced that it will not allow the government to make Hindi compulsory, while Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, founded by Raj Thackeray, claimed that if the government does not withdraw its decision, then the struggle is inevitable.

The Congress alleged that making Hindi compulsory is a ploy to destroy the Marathi language, identity and culture. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP warned that undermining Marathi under the garb of the New Education Policy would not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, the state government’s language consultation committee has urged the Chief Minister to revoke the decision to make Hindi a mandatory third language for students of Classes 1 to 5. The language consultation committee’s chief, Laxmikant Deshmukh, claimed the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) did not consider their thoughts and suggestions before making the Hindi push.

--IANS

sj/dpb