Addition of Hindi from Class 1 in Maha schools conspiracy: Congress

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government's decision to introduce Hindi in schools from Class I is a conspiracy by the BJP-RSS to sideline Marathi and eliminate linguistic diversity enshrined in the Constitution, alleged state Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal on Saturday, reports PTI.

On June 17, the Maharashtra government issued a GR making Hindi the third language, though not mandatory, for students of Classes 1 to 5 in English and Marathi medium schools.

"This is not merely about a language policy. The BJP-RSS agenda is to erase all other languages and impose Hindi hegemony across the nation. But we will not allow Marathi to be throttled. This deceitful design will be defeated. We respect Hindi as a language, but coercion is unacceptable. Marathi is not just our language. It is our identity and way of life," Sapkal told reporters.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has asked his party workers to burn the government resolution (GR) on the Hindi language in state schools on June 29, a day before the Maharashtra legislature's Monsoon Session is set to begin. Thackeray will be present when the copies of the GR are burnt in south Mumbai, said party vibhag pramukh (area chief) Santosh Shinde

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Pravin Darekar claimed that the opposition parties were misleading people by claiming Hindi was being made a compulsory subject in Maharashtra schools from Class I.

Hindi is not a compulsory subject in Maharashtra under the three-language formula of the National Education Policy 2020, and this has also been reiterated by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, asserted Darekar.

"The opposition is needlessly politicising the issue. It was the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government that had accepted the recommendations of the Mashelkar Committee, which included the three-language policy. Former Mumbai VC Bhalchandra Mungekar was part of the committee. Why is Thackeray now opposing what he had approved," Darekar told reporters.