Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut thanked Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin for his support but said Maharashtra’s fight is only against Hindi being made mandatory in schools, not against the language itself.
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena (UBT) has declined Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s call to unite against the Hindi language saying the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is not against Hindi and its stand was limited only to opposing ‘Hindi imposition’ in primary schools. While thanking Stalin for supporting Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut distanced his party from Tamil Nadu CM’s stand.
Mr. Raut stressed that Maharashtra’s stand is different from that of the southern states. “Unlike southern states, people in Maharashtra are not against speaking in Hindi,” he said.
“The southern states have been fighting against the imposition of Hindi for years. Their position is that they will neither speak Hindi nor let others speak Hindi. But that is not our stand. We speak Hindi. Our fight is only against compulsion, not against the language itself,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.
Clarifying that the Thackeray brothers’ stance is only against Hindi imposition in primary schools, Mr. Raut wished Mr. Stalin luck in his battle. “We haven’t stopped anyone from speaking in Hindi because we have Hindi movies, Hindi theatre, and Hindi music here. But the imposition of Hindi in primary schools will not be tolerated,” he said.
Mr. Raut further acknowledged Mr. Stalin’s support but sought to downplay it and said, “Mr. Stalin congratulated us on this win and said he would learn from it. We wish him the best. But our fight is limited to preventing the forced inclusion of Hindi in primary education, nothing more.”
Soon after Uddhav and Raj Thackeray came together for the first time in nearly two decades, Stalin – who has been at loggerheads with the Centre over what he calls Hindi imposition – welcomed the cousins’ stance on the issue on Saturday. Taking to X, Mr. Stalin wrote, “The language rights struggle, waged generation after generation by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the people of Tamil Nadu to defeat Hindi imposition, has now transcended state boundaries and is swirling like a storm of protest in Maharashtra.”
Welcoming the reunion of the estranged cousins, Mr. Stalin said, “The enthusiasm and powerful oratory of the victory rally held today in Mumbai under the leadership of brother #UddhavThackeray against Hindi imposition fills us with immense excitement.”
He also appealed to the Thackeray brothers to join him in his fight against the Hindi language. “Come, let us unite! Tamil Nadu will fight! Tamil Nadu will win!” Stalin said.
The rally in Mumbai, titled ‘Awaaz Marathicha,’ marked a reunion of cousins on the same stage after nearly two decades. The protest came in the wake of the Maharashtra government’s decision to withdraw two Government Resolutions that had made Hindi a compulsory third language in primary schools. The rollback followed strong opposition from the Shiv Sena (UBT), MNS, and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction).
Meanwhile, the BJP slammed violent protests in Mumbai over Hindi. Senior BJP minister Ashish Shelar said while terrorists killed people in Pahalgam based on their religion, people were being attacked in Mumbai based on their language, which is unfortunate. “In Pahalgam, people were killed because of their religion. Here in Maharashtra, Hindus are being assaulted only because of the language they speak. What’s the difference?” he said.
The remark comes amid heightened tensions following multiple incidents in Mumbai where workers of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) attacked shopkeepers and migrant workers allegedly for speaking Hindi instead of Marathi.
