Analysis - Hindi Row: D Fadnavis' Masterstroke Or Thackeray Brothers' Win?
The withdrawal of the government resolution regarding the teaching of Hindi in Maharashtra's primary schools is being viewed differently across the state's political spectrum. For over two weeks, political opposition to the resolution had been gathering momentum, with protests set to culminate in a march in South Mumbai.
However, the Devendra Fadnavis government appears to have defanged the opposition by withdrawing the resolution a week before the planned march.
For the uninitiated, the controversy erupted last month when the Maharashtra government issued a resolution to comply with the Three-Language Formula as per the Union government's new education policy.
According to the resolution, students from classes one to four would have to study Hindi as the default third language if there were not enough students to study other languages.
Raj Thackeray, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief, was the first to object, alleging that it was a subtle ploy to impose Hindi on Maharashtra. Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) also announced its opposition. Last week, both Raj and Uddhav Thackeray announced separate events to protest; however, they later decided to participate in a single protest march from Girgaon to Azad Maidan.
On Sunday, Mr Fadnavis announced that the resolution had been withdrawn and a committee would be formed to devise a new formula.
Many political pundits believe this is a masterstroke by Mr Fadnavis, as he has robbed the opposition of a key issue ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls.
Had the government not softened its stance, say critics, the MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) could have capitalised on the issue significantly.
However, Raj and Uddhav Thackeray portray the decision as their victory. Their supporters claim that the Fadnavis government's adamant approach could have alienated Marathi voters.
There are also whispers in Maharashtra's political corridors that the entire protest was a "fixed match" between the BJP and the MNS. This suspicion arose because, before the MNS announced its protest, a closed-door meeting took place between Fadnavis and Raj Thackeray at Hotel Taj Lands End in Mumbai. Some suspect the resolution was deliberately issued to allow the MNS to revive its political relevance by protesting against it.
A revived MNS could dent Shiv Sena (UBT)'s vote bank if a truce between the Thackeray cousins does not materialise.
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Maha malady
Times of India's Edit Page team comprises senior journalists with wide-ranging interests who debate and opine on the news and issues of the day. Fadnavis or Thackerays, the language drama does little to actually help the state's students Indian children would be awash in prosperity if everything done in education's name was actually about it. Maharashtra is the latest to show that, instead, such decision-making is driven by cynical politics. First the Fadnavis govt made Hindi mandatory as the third language from Class 1 to 5, then made it optional, next estranged cousins Raj and Uddhav Thackeray came together in protest, finally govt withdrew the orders, and formed a committee. Fadnavis's game to play footsoldier to the Centre and the Thackerays' to raise fading political capital, were both patently obvious, neither doing diddly squat for students. Aser 2024 (rural) reports that only 37% of children in Class 3 can read Class 2 Marathi text, moving up a meagre 3 percentage points over the last decade. Have you heard anything from the Marathi-defending political warriors about how to improve this? As for netas who are pumped up about the teaching of a third language, do you ever hear them engage with how teaching resources that fail to impart current reading goals, will deliver significantly expanded KRAs? Of course not. Macaulay is regularly flogged for feeding an inferiority complex in India. Today's language wars are inflicting greater damage on modern India. They are forcing a pauperly lens on what we have inherited in abundance. The idea that the survival of one Indian language hangs on injury to another, is translating into actual violence. It hurts migrants, it hurts national wellness. Villainising English, now a core Indian strength, does the same. There's a bizarre thought process that China's decades of double-digit growth can be copied by copying its language chauvinism. This is terribly self-harmful. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
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