Hindi row: No Uddhav-Raj joint morcha on July 5 as Maha govt withdraws notifications, says Sanjay Raut

Mumbai, June 29 (IANS) Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday announced that the joint morcha in the presence of party chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder Raj Thackeray slated for July 5 in Mumbai will not take place after the Maharashtra government decided to cancel the introduction of Hindi as third language after Marathi and English for classes 1 to 5.

Raut in a post on X said: “Hindi imposition government order canceled! This is a victory of Marathi unity. Fear of Thackerays coming together. The joint march on July 5 will not take place now; but... Thackeray is the brand! A wise decision taken by Fadnavis. Nice.”

Raut’s announcement came after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday announced the formation of a committee headed by the former planning commission member Narendra Jadhav to prepare a report on the trilingual formula keeping the interest of Marathi student at the centre.

He also announced that the state Cabinet has decided to scrap two government resolutions released on April 16 and June 17 saying the state government has made Marathi language compulsory while Hindi an optional language. The committee has sought three months time for preparing report.

The April 16 government resolution had proposed Hindi to be a compulsory third language in Marathi and English schools for classes 1 to 5 but the government put it on hold after protests from various quarters. The government issued a revised government resolution on June 17 whereby Marathi has been made mandatory in all schools while Hindi as optional. The students were given an option to use one of the Indian languages. The GR further stated that students were allowed to choose from other Indian languages in the place of Hindi if 20 students per grade in a school express the desire to study any Indian language other than Hindi.

This means the government has decided not to implement trilingual policy but after the Narendra Jadhav committee’s report. Hindi won’t be a third language for now in classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English schools.

Earlier in the day, Uddhav Thackeray, who was accompanied by Raut and other party leaders including Aaditya Thackeray and Arvind Sawant, had participated in the symbolic burning of the government resolutions on the introduction of Hindi as a third language under the trilingual policy formula. Thackeray had announced that his party was not against Hindi language but opposed to linguistic emergency.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder Raj Thackeray said that the government has finally withdrawn its decision to impose the Hindi language under the pretext of teaching three languages from the first grade.

“The government has canceled the two government resolutions (GRs) related to this. This cannot be called belated wisdom, because this imposition was withdrawn solely due to the pressure from the Marathi people. Why the government was so adamant about the Hindi language and who exactly was pressuring the government for this remains a mystery,” he added.

He claimed the government decision is final and his party would not allow the functioning of the Narendra Jadhav committee.

--IANS

sj/pgh