Mumbai:
Raj Thackeray's party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, has been holding Marathi lessons for non-Marathi speakers in the city. But the party chief's son, Amit, wants to pursue a Bachelor's Degree course in mass media in English medium at Ruia College, Matunga.
This, despite the college introducing a course in Marathi from this academic year.
Thackeray, who was accompanied by an entourage of at least 50 party workers, went to the college around 12.30 pm on Thursday with his son Amit to seek admission to the Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) course in English medium.
According to a source, Thackeray, who for the last two years, has been saying he wants to give Marathi language the due it deserves, went directly to the principal's cabin with his son.
Principal of the college Suhas Pednekar confirmed Thackeray's visit. "He enquired about subjects being taught in the BMM stream and generally about other subjects taught at the college."
Confirming that her son and husband had visited Ruia College, Thackeray's wife Sharmila said, "They are visiting various colleges. But I cannot comment on what medium Amit will opt for if he pursues BMM. Nothing has been decided."
MNS spokesperson Shirish Parkar too corroborated that Thackeray and Amit had visited Ruia College. "He went there as a parent, not as a politician. I am not aware of the purpose of the visit," said Parkar.
Students already pursuing the BMM course at Ruia College said if Amit Thackeray does seek admission to the course, the political science teacher will be in quite a quandary.
"The teacher regularly conducts discussions on issues taken up by MNS and parties following the same ideology. We wonder how strongly the teacher will be able to put across views when Amit is present in the class," said a student.
A couple of years ago, when Raj's son sought admission to Podar College in Matunga and opted for German as a second language bypassing Marathi, partyworkers put up the defence that Amit had opted for German as it was "a scoring subject".