- Governor CP Radhakrishnan urged against spreading linguistic hatred in Maharashtra
- He recounted witnessing violence over language issues in Tamil Nadu as an MP
- Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan condemned forcing or beating people to speak Marathi
Amid the ongoing row over language in Maharashtra, Governor CP Radhakrishnan has urged people to refrain from spreading hatred based on linguistic differences, warning that such attitudes could harm the state in the long run.
Sharing a personal experience from his time as an MP in Tamil Nadu, the Maharashtra Governor said, "...one day I saw some people beating someone. When I asked them about the problem, they were speaking in Hindi. Then, the hotel owner told me that they don't speak Tamil, and people were beating them to speak Tamil."
He added, "If we spread this kind of hatred, then who will come and invest...? In the long run, we are only harming Maharashtra. I'm unable to understand Hindi, and that is an obstacle for me. We must learn the maximum number of languages, and we should be proud of our mother tongue."
Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan also weighed in on the issue, saying, "Definitely, Marathi is our mother tongue, and it is our priority, but if we force someone else to speak Marathi or beat them, that is also not right for our state. We also go out, and what will we do if someone tells us to speak in Tamil or Bengali... We live in a country where many languages are spoken. We love our own languages, but I also do not like this kind of attitude."
These remarks come amid heated debates in Maharashtra and Karnataka over the alleged "imposition" of Hindi and the choice of medium of instruction in schools.
The controversy in Maharashtra began with a government resolution issued on April 16, mandating the introduction of Hindi as a third language from Classes 1 to 5. The move drew sharp criticism, with many accusing the state government of attempting to impose Hindi.
Earlier on Saturday, NCP-SCP MP Supriya Sule took a jibe at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, questioning who might be pressuring him to prioritise Hindi over Marathi.
"I am very concerned about Devendra (Fadnavis) Ji. Who is pressuring him?... Under whose pressure is he doing this? This is the first time that Maharashtra's Chief Minister is placing Hindi above Marathi..." Sule told reporters
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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