Language, longing and belonging in Maharashtra
First, exploiting the issue of Marathi versus Hindi will certainly not help the cause of Marathi. Second, it may not help the Thackeray cousins revive their electoral prospects. And third, it may not seriously dent the support base of the Mahayuti government.
No doubt, in Maharashtra the prominence of the Marathi language cannot and should not be undermined at any cost. The three-language formula has been there for decades and many of my generation in the state learnt Hindi from the fifth standard. However, in the context of the recently-manufactured controversy, Marathi lovers would do well to be mindful of certain key factors.
The first and foremost is that the prestige of any language depends on whether its native speakers take pride in speaking it in public. Today, in Mumbai, many Marathi-speaking people routinely use either Hindi or English even while conversing with their Marathi-speaking friends.
One of the many reasons for this strange behaviour is that somewhere deep in their minds, there is a feeling that speaking in Hindi or English adds to their dignity, as against their own mother-tongue. The impact of this complex is so grave that most Marathi-medium schools in Mumbai are on the verge of extinction.
Can one blame Hindi-speaking Maharashtrians for this? Again, unlike in Chennai or Kolkata, in Mumbai, outsiders feel more at home as they can do very well without any working knowledge of Marathi. The Marathi theatre is known for its vibrancy and has a rich tradition. And yet, Marathi plays or movies hardly find a place in non-Marathi newspapers because most English and Hindi newspapers in Mumbai don't feel the need to have Marathi-speaking mediapersons among their staff. Unless the Marathi language and culture makes a powerful entry into the ethos of the non-Marathi people, Marathi cannot grow.
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