Maharashtra: We are Hindu, not Hindi, says Raj Thackeray

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS chief Raj Thackeray has strongly opposed the state governmentrsquos decision to make Hindi a compulsory subject for students from Std 1 to 5 under the National Education Policy NEP 2020 Thackerayrsquos objection came a day after the state approved the implementation of NEP mandating Hindi as a third language in Marathi and English medium schoolsldquoHindi is not the national language Every state has its own mother tongue and Hindi is just one of them Marathi Hindi and English should be used for government and official work onlymdashone cannot and should not force students to learn Hindirdquo Thackeray said in a post on X formerly Twitter ldquoMNS strongly opposes this policy and will not tolerate itrdquo he warnedThe MNS chief estranged nephew of the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray added ldquoWe are Hindu not Hindi The government must keep this in mind before proceeding with such a decisionrdquoWhat the GR saysAccording to the Government Resolution GR the current twolanguage format in schools will be replaced by a threelanguage structure under NEP with Hindi made mandatory in addition to English and Marathi The NEP 2020 reaffirms the threelanguage formula with emphasis on multilingualism and flexibility It states that students must learn three languagesmdashat least two of which must be native to India The medium of instruction until at least Grade 5 preferably Grade 8 should be the childrsquos mother tongue or regional language wherever possibleWhile the policy doesnrsquot mandate Hindi explicitly several states including Maharashtra have interpreted it as Hindi English regional languagemdashleading to friction in nonHindispeaking statesSouthern resistanceSouthern states especially Tamil Nadu have historically opposed the threelanguage formula Since the 1960s Tamil Nadu has followed a twolanguage policymdashTamil and English The ruling DMK sees the NEP as a covert push for Hindi imposition CM MK Stalin has been vocal against the centralised approach to language policyFadnavis defendsChief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defended the statersquos decision stating it is aligned with NEP 2020 and not a new development ldquoEveryone in Maharashtra must know Marathi The Union government believes there should be a common language for communication across India Hindi has been introduced in that spiritrdquo Fadnavis told reporters However Opposition to the threelanguage policy has existed since the NEPs draft release in 2019 Following public backlash the Union HRD Ministry had revised the draft to remove the impression of compulsory Hindi Yet concerns about language imposition have persistedMinority institutionsThe stricter enforcement of Marathi and Hindi in schools including CBSE ICSE IB and minority institutions has sparked worries among educators ldquoIn many schools students learn Urdu Tamil Malayalam or other mother tongues If English Hindi and Marathi are all mandatory wherersquos the room for linguistic diversityrdquo asked an educationist on condition of anonymity ldquoOptional languages like Sanskrit or Tamil may get sidelined unless students take up a fourth languagemdashwhich is unrealistic in most school timetablesrdquoBackgroundMaharashtra has traditionally followed a threelanguage systemmdashMarathi compulsory Hindi and English Under NEP this structure is being strictly enforced across all school boards including minorityrun and nonstate institutionsGhatkopar food row ignites Marathi vs nonMarathi tensionsThe MNS has also responded sharply to a Marathi versus nonMarathi controversy in Ghatkopar where a Gujarati community member allegedly shamed a Marathi family for eating nonvegetarian food Videos of the incident circulated online prompted MNS leaders to visit the society and issue a warning ldquoMNS will not tolerate any diktat from other communities especially Gujaratis on the eating habits of Marathi peoplerdquo said MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande Shiv Sena UBT MP Sanjay Raut weighed in claiming this was another flashpoint in the Marathi vs nonMarathi identity clash He recalled that a few months ago an RSS leader had stated that people migrating to Mumbai donrsquot learn Marathi because the city lacks a unified languagemdashusing Ghatkopar as an example After the backlash the RSS leader issued a clarification stating his comments were misinterpretedatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params