NCP slams Abu Azmi over ‘wari’ comment, labels him a ‘toxic element’ in state

The Nationalist Congress Party NCP an ally in Maharashtrarsquos Mahayuti government strongly condemned Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi on Monday for his remarks about the lsquowarirsquo pilgrimage to Pandharpur and called for action against himNCP chief spokesperson Anand Paranjpe criticised Azmi calling him a ldquotoxic elementrdquo in the state Azmi had remarked on Sunday that Muslims have never objected to the lsquowarirsquo tradition while leaders such as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath often oppose namaz being offered on the streets reported news agency PTIHis comments drew backlash from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who accused Azmi of creating controversy to gain publicityTalking to reporters Paranjpe said Abu Azmi has become a toxic element in Maharashtra repeatedly making inflammatory statements to disrupt communal harmony The government must act decisively against him reported news agency PTIHe said Ashadiwari is an 800yearold traditionThe NCP leader pointed out that several Muslims offer their services and participate in the wari which sees lakhs of warkaris from different parts of the state walking to Pandharpur with palkhis of Sant Dnyaneshwar and Sant TukaramAzmi repeatedly uses HinduMuslim politics to divide people His words incite tension and such behaviour should not be tolerated he said reported PTIState Ports Minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane said no one should dare speak about Hindu culture and festivalsThese people criticise Mahakumbh and wari but these processions dont happen all year round Should we raise questions about the Hajj pilgrimage he asked reported PTIHindi should be declared as national language says Maharashtra SP chief Abu AzmiMaharashtra Samajwadi Party President Abu Azmi on Tuesday supported the state governments decision to make Hindi the default third language in schoolsHe said Marathi should be the first language English the second and Hindi the third Azmi also said Hindi should be declared the national languageSpeaking to reporters Abu Azmi said Marathi is the first language people run behind English as they are slaves so it is the second language I reiterate again and again that the third one should be Hindi There is a committee in the Parliament that goes across the country to promote Hindi and all the works of the central government also take place in Hindi Some people want to play politics Hindi should 100 per cent be declared as the national language which should be spoken from Kashmir to Kanyakumari Should I learn Assamese if I go to AssamEarlier on Monday Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that the final decision regarding the threelanguage formula will be taken only after discussions with litterateurs language experts political leaders and all other parties concernedA meeting on the issue of the threelanguage formula was held at the Chief Ministers official residence Varsha on Sunday night Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde School Education Minister Dada Bhuse Minister of State Dr Pankaj Bhoyar and officials from the education department were present for itAfter an indepth discussion on the subject it was decided to present the status of all states ensure that Marathi students are not disadvantaged under the Academic Bank of Credit in the context of the new education policy and explore other possible options A comprehensive presentation will be made for all stakeholders It was resolved in the meeting that this presentation and consultation process should be conducted with Marathi language scholars litterateurs political leaders and all relevant partiesChief Minister Devendra Fadnavis further stated that a final decision will be made only after this consultation process is completed Hence School Education Minister Dada Bhuse will now initiate the next phase of the consultation processThe Maharashtra government has been criticised twice regarding its language policy Initially a government resolution issued on April 16 mandated Hindi as the compulsory third language in Marathi and Englishmedium schoolsIn response to the backlash the government revised the policy through an amended resolution stating Hindi will be the third language For those who want to learn another language at least 20 willing students are requiredWith inputs from Agencies