Latest news with #Mashelkar
Hindustan Times
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Mahayuti, BJP disown Jharkhand MP remarks on Marathi manoos
Mumbai: After Jharkhand BJP MP Nishikant Dubey stirred a fresh political row on Monday, saying people in Maharashtra were surviving on their money and those targeting non-Marathi speakers in the state would be thrashed badly again and again, the BJP in Maharashtra and the ruling Mahayuti alliance distanced themselves from the remarks. Ashish Shelar (Hindustan Times) Cultural affairs minister and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar said that nobody should question the contribution and achievements of the Marathi manoos in the country. While replying to the long duration debate in the assembly, Shelar said he did not want to name the Jharkhand MP as he had not given notice, although he wanted to clear the stand of the state government, the Mahayuti and the BJP. 'The MP should not raise questions over the performance of the Marathi manoos. The contribution of Maharashtra in the national GDP is highest in the country,' Shelar said. The first film in India was produced by a Marathi person and the first army in Indian history was established by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, he said. 'We should not be questioned about our contribution….Nobody should say that Maharashtra is surviving on their money,' Shelar said in the assembly. His party and the state government would safeguard Marathi pride and ensure that non-Marathi people living in the state were not disrespected. Mashelkar committee report to be tabled Shiv Sena leader and Marathi language minister Uday Samant on Monday said the government would table the Mashelkar committee report on implementation of the three-language formula under the National Education Policy, 2020. Samant, while speaking in the legislative assembly, reiterated that the government had tried to make Hindi compulsory, but introduce it as a third language in schools. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray had accepted Masheklar committee's report, which has a paragraph recommending Hindi be made mandatory alongside Marathi and English from class 1 to 12, on February 22, 2022, Samant said. 'The then CM had clearly tweeted on his social media account that the report would be implemented,' he said. The Mashelkar committee report would be tabled in the house and copies of the report would be made available to all MLAs, he added.
India Today
01-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Did Uddhav-Raj front force Fadnavis govt rethink on Hindi in schools?
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, in a major climbdown by his Mayahuti government, has withdrawn the controversial decision to introduce Hindi as a third language from Class 1 in schools. The decision had drawn flak from Opposition parties, litterateurs and educationists, and more crucially created the possibility of the two estranged Thackeray cousins—Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray—burying the hatchet and joining move on June 29 came in the backdrop of a grand morcha announced by the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS on July 5, leading to intense speculation on whether the Thackeray cousins will come together politically. The decision had invited charges of Hindi being imposed on school has said the government resolutions issued on April 16 and June 17 would be scrapped. 'A new committee will be set up to decide on the three-language policy by studying the [Raghunath] Mashelkar committee report (on the three-language formula), listen to the objections of those who oppose it, and then decide on what is good for our students,' the chief minister committee will be chaired by economist Narendra Jadhav, who is also former vice-chancellor of the University of Pune and a former Rajya Sabha MP. The three-language policy will be implemented after the committee submits its report to the state government. Fadnavis said the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, led by Uddhav, had accepted the Mashelkar committee report suggesting the implementation of the three-language formula, and accused the former chief minister of double first government resolution (GR) had made Hindi the mandatory third language for students from Class 1 to 5, while the second GR, issued after a maelstrom of opposition, had made it optional, but with riders. However, these conditions had led to charges that Hindi was being given a backdoor entry into had pointed to how this will involve learning and educational challenges for students as they were too young to learn a third language in schools. If a third language was included in the primary curriculum, this could result in the weightage to crucial subjects, such as mathematics, being the Opposition to the move to make Hindi mandatory had been launched by academicians and civil society groups, such as Deepak Pawar of the Marathi Abhyas Kendra, it was the prospect of the two Thackerays joining hands on the issue of Marathi pride that seemed to have forced the government to branching out and launching the MNS, Raj, a former president of the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS), the now-defunct student wing of the undivided Shiv Sena, was seen as his uncle and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's political successor. However, he had to gradually make way for Uddhav in the party, and eventually quit it in 2005 to set up the MNS the next and Raj have said the July 5 protest meeting will now be converted into a 'vijay morcha', or victory parade, though the venue remains to be Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS were mauled during the assembly elections held last year. The Shiv Sena (UBT)'s strength in the legislative assembly dwindled to just 20 while the MNS, which had won one seat in 2019, was wiped out; even Raj's son Amit lost the Mahim seat to Mahesh Sawant of the Shiv Sena (UBT).The defeat had led to the two parties making overtures to each other; Uddhav and Raj are reported to have taken the initiative to open lines of communication for a possible patch-up. The July 5 event will be the first time the two Thackerays will be seen together in Shiv Sena is seen as a party with an emotional base, and the two Thackerays joining forces could galvanise their core Marathi voters in Mumbai and the surrounding areas and pay dividends in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls due this year. In Mumbai, the BJP is seen as a party with a strong base among non-Marathi speaking groups, such as Gujaratis, Marwaris, Jains and north Indians, putting it on the back the BJP and Sangh Parivar are seen as strong votaries of Hindi as a national language, the policy was being helmed by the school education department, led by Dadaji Bhuse of the Shiv Sena led by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde. This put the Shinde Sena in a quandary. Deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar had also struck a discordant note over the policy, and the issue is said to have led to protests in the state cabinet meeting on June while the July 5 event, which will be held at the NSCI dome in Worli, is seen as an event that may bring Uddhav and Raj together, it was a similar protest march that had sowed the seeds of discord between the two cousins and led to a split. In December 1993, as the president of the BVS, Raj had organised a morcha of the unemployed to the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan during its winter session in the state's second capital at Nagpur. Earlier, Raj had toured Maharashtra extensively to drum up support for the morcha and had seen a rousing response of the youth to the journalist Narayan Athavale aka Aniruddha Punarvasu, who was elected as a Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP in 1996, had written the memorandum that was to be submitted by Raj to the state government later. It was evident that the Nagpur morcha would be huge. A night before the morcha, Raj got a call from Matoshree, the Thackeray family residence at Bandra East in Mumbai, asking him to ensure that Uddhav too got to speak at the public was disturbed as he felt Uddhav wanted a share of his credit. The next day, when Uddhav was sitting on a makeshift dais on a truck, senior leader Manohar Joshi announced that Uddhav would make a speech—his first. This was shown as a spontaneous move. Raj later addressed the 50,000-strong the ice-breaking between the cousins has now raised expectations among Shiv Sena voters that the two Thackerays will bury the hatchet. The Sena (UBT) and MNS face an uphill challenge in the local body elections, especially in Mumbai, where a resurgent BJP seems to be eager to come to power in the BMC, the country's richest civic BMC elections are seen as an existential battle for the three Senas, which hail from the same political stock. Any rise in the fortunes of the two Thackerays will work against the interests of Shinde's Sena. In contrast, the BJP, with its base among the Hindi, Gujarati and Marwari speakers and the upper-caste and upper-class Maharashtrians, is relatively better insulated from the political aftershocks of any reconciliation between the Thackeray to India Today Magazine- EndsMust Watch
India Gazette
30-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Public has understood that Hindi hatred is bigger than Marathi love": Shiv Sena Manisha Kayande
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 30 (ANI): Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande on Monday, speaking on the imposition of Hindi in the state, stated that the public had understood that the hatred of the Hindi language was bigger than the love for Marathi. 'Naturally, there will be a credit war. Both Thackerays are engaged in it, but what the public has understood is that Hindi hatred is bigger than Marathi love. Isn't Hindi our Indian language?... No one ever said we don't have to learn English... This hypocrisy was visible somewhere, and that was also visible in this, and the hatred towards Hindi, which was coming out unnecessarily. We love our mother tongue, Marathi... No one needs to teach us what Marathi love is...' Kayande told ANI. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray celebrated the withdrawal of the three-language policy in the state and stated that they had punched Marathi haters, and the unity in the state should remain as it is. He further stated that a new committee led by Narendra Jadhav would report on the decision, further stating that the government had appointed financial experts for the decision in the education sector. 'We have punched Marathi haters; this unity should remain as it is. We appreciate the political parties which came together with us despite different stands. Temporarily, they (the Government) have cancelled the GR. If they hadn't cancelled, they would have seen the protest on 5th July. Many leaders from Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP are going to join us. A new committee led by Dr Narendra Jadhav will report on this. The government has appointed financial experts for the education sector's decision. We will stage a victory rally on 5th July,' Thackeray said, speaking to reporters here. Party MP Sanjay Raut lashed out at the BJP for making false claims of former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray accepting the Mashelkar committee's report on the three-language policy. Addressing the media, Raut stated that lying was the BJP's 'national policy.', further challenging the BJP that if Thackeray had submitted the Mashelkar committee report, it should have been made public. 'Lying is the BJP's national policy. These people are working with this policy in Maharashtra. If Uddhav Thackeray had submitted a report on the Mashelkar committee, it should be made public. A committee report has been released and placed in the cabinet. Can't this be discussed? You forcefully discussed Hindi with the cabinet -- you did it because it's a national policy. If any national policy comes before the state, then discussing it is very important. Devendra Fadnavis has become the chief minister three times--does he not have that much knowledge?' Raut said, addressing a press conference. (ANI)
India Gazette
30-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"We have punched Marathi haters, unity should remain as it is": Shiv Sena (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray on withdrawal of three-language policy
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 30 (ANI): Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday celebrated the withdrawal of the three-language policy in the state and stated that they had punched Marathi haters, and the unity in the state should remain as it is. He further stated that a new committee led by Narendra Jadhav would report on the decision, further stating that the government had appointed financial experts for the decision in the education sector. 'We have punched Marathi haters; this unity should remain as it is. We appreciate the political parties which came together with us despite different stands. Temporarily, they (the Government) have cancelled the GR. If they hadn't cancelled, they would have seen the protest on 5th July. Many leaders from Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP are going to join us. A new committee led by Dr Narendra Jadhav will report on this. The government has appointed financial experts for the education sector's decision. We will stage a victory rally on 5th July,' Thackeray said, speaking to reporters here. Meanwhile, party MP Sanjay Raut lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for making false claims of former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray accepting the Mashelkar committee's report on the three-language policy. Addressing the media, Raut stated that lying was the BJP's 'national policy.', further challenging the BJP that if Thackeray had submitted the Mashelkar committee report, it should have been made public. 'Lying is the BJP's national policy. These people are working with this policy in Maharashtra. If Uddhav Thackeray had submitted a report on the Mashelkar committee, it should be made public. A committee report has been released and placed in the cabinet. Can't this be discussed? You forcefully discussed Hindi with the cabinet -- you did it because it's a national policy. If any national policy comes before the state, then discussing it is very important. Devendra Fadnavis has become the chief minister three times--does he not have that much knowledge?' Raut said, addressing a press conference. Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, informing about the cancellation of the resolutions that were passed on April 16 and June 17, announced that a committee will be formed to discuss the implementation of the three-language formula in the state. 'A committee under Dr Narendra Jadhav will be formed to discuss the implementation of the three-language formula in the state... Until the committee submits its report, both government resolutions (of April 16 and June 17) have been cancelled by the government,' Devendra Fadnavis said. On April 16, the Maharashtra government passed a resolution that mandated Hindi as the compulsory third language in Marathi and English-medium schools. However, in response to the backlash, the government revised the policy on June 17 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 required.' (ANI)
India Gazette
30-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
Lying is BJP's
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 30 (ANI): Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for making false claims of former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray accepting the Mashelkar committee's report on the three-language policy. Addressing the media, Raut stated that lying was the BJP's 'national policy.', further challenging the BJP that if Thackeray had submitted the Mashelkar committee report, it should have been made public. 'Lying is the BJP's national policy. These people are working with this policy in Maharashtra. If Uddhav Thackeray had submitted a report on the Mashelkar committee, it should be made public. A committee report has been released and placed in the cabinet. Can't this be discussed? You forcefully discussed Hindi with the cabinet -- you did it because it's a national policy. If any national policy comes before the state, then discussing it is very important. Devendra Fadnavis has become the chief minister three times--does he not have that much knowledge?' Raut said, addressing a press conference. Earlier on June 29, the Maharashtra government had cancelled the two orders on the implementation of the three-language policy after facing heavy criticism from the opposition, and being accused of 'imposing Hindu' on the people of the state. On June 24, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis while making an announcement on the three-language formula had alleged that it was former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who had accepted the recommendations of the Dr Raghunath Mashelkar committee to introduce a three-language policy from class 1 to 12, and had also constituted a panel for its implementation, according to a press note by the Maharashtra Government. 'The decision on the Three-Language Formula was taken by Uddhav Thackeray himself during his tenure,' Fadnavis said. Following the announcement, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray said that the government resolutions were cancelled solely due to the pressure from the Marathi people. 'The decision to impose the Hindi language under the pretext of teaching three languages from the first grade has finally been withdrawn. The government has cancelled the two GRs related to this. This cannot be called belated wisdom, because this imposition was withdrawn solely due to the pressure from the Marathi people. Why the government was so adamant about the Hindi language and who exactly was pressuring the government for this remains a mystery,' Raj Thackeray wrote on X. Raj Thackeray further defied the formation of the committee on the three-language policy, saying that they assume this decision has been permanently cancelled and the government shouldn't create 'confusion with the committee's report again.' 'One more thing: the government has once again appointed a new committee. I say clearly, let the committee's report come or not, but such actions will not be tolerated again, and that's final! The government should engrave this in their minds forever! We assume this decision has been permanently cancelled, and the people of Maharashtra have assumed the same. So, do not create confusion with the committee's report again, otherwise, the government should note that this committee will not be allowed to function in Maharashtra,' he said. (ANI)
