Mumbai, June 28 Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday claimed that the Mahayuti government has "imposed" Hindi as a third language in Marathi and English schools for classes 1 to 5 due to the pressure from the Centre and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Raut stepped up attacks against the Centre and the Mahayuti government for "forcing" Hindi as the third language in the state curriculum.
At the same time, he reminded that veteran RSS leader Bhayyaji Joshi had recently said that Marathi is not the language of Mumbai.
"There was pressure from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on the state government to implement the three-language policy by making Hindi compulsory in Marathi and English schools for classes 1 to 5. The Fadnavis government has already issued a government resolution in this regard due to the pressure from the Centre," said Raut.
He alleged that the state government was working to "destroy Marathi" due to the "pressure" from the Centre and the RSS.
On the BJP's claim that it was the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led government that appointed the high-level committee, which mentioned that Marathi, English and Hindi should be made compulsory, Raut said, "BJP is making wrong statements and spreading information to create a misunderstanding. Is appointing a committee a crime? "
"The Centre has imposed the decision of a trilingual policy on the state. As the Chief Minister accepts any report, Uddhav Thackeray also accepted that report at that time. But did Uddhav issue a Government Resolution (GR)? Did he issue an ordinance?" Raut asked.
"Who issued the GR (about Hindi as the third language)? The Fadnavis government issued it," said Raut.
He dared Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to make the high-level committee's report (which the BJP was mentioning to "target" Uddhav Thackeray) public.
"The government resolution on the imposition of Hindi would be burnt at the morcha," said Raut.
He was referring to a morcha slated for July 5 in which estranged brothers Shiv Sena UBT Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder Raj Thackeray are set to participate against the "imposition" of Hindi while demanding the protection of Marathi language in Maharashtra.
"Sharad Pawar has extended his support for the morcha on July 5. I have spoken to Sharad Pawar. Pawar has said that he will try to come. The Congress party will also participate in the morcha. Dalit Panthers, PWP, Left parties and various organisations will also join. All Marathi people will be united," said Raut.
He hoped that something good would definitely come out of the upcoming morcha.
"We want the Marathi forces to fight the BrihanMumbai Municipal Elections together. Earlier, the leaders of the Shiv Sena UBT and MNS did not meet each other, but now they are meeting each other. They are discussing. There will be a positive atmosphere after the morcha. Now I believe that the unity of the Marathi people will not be broken," he said.
Meanwhile, state BJP chief spokesman Keshav Upadhye said, "Uddhav Thackeray decided to set up a committee for the action taken report.
Upadhye said, "Uddhav Thackeray initiated the process. Now, the claims that the decision on Hindi was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are quite laughable."
Upadhye further targeted Uddhav Thackeray, saying that when the latter was chief minister, the state government announced the construction of Urdu Bhavan, not Marathi Bhasha Bhavan.
He said that Uddhav Thackeray did not do much for the Marathi schools in Mumbai, especially when the number of such schools and students was rapidly falling.
"Where was their love for Marathi then?" he asked.
Upadhye said that it was their (Uddhav Thackeray's) attempt to "fool" the people by raking up the Marathi issue.
He exuded confidence that the people would extend their support to development.
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