Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday urged Marathis to pledge that they will speak only in their mother tongue.
“If Marathi-speaking people themselves do not speak their language, how can others be expected to develop a love for the Marathi language?” Thackeray asks in a statement appearing in the Sena mouthpiece Saamna.
Referring to the large influx of people from other states into Mumbai, Thackeray says that Marathis are to blame for the situation as the outsiders have realised that they can stay there without having to learn Marathi. This is not possible for outsiders in other states, he says.
Thackeray's statement assumes political significance as it comes ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections scheduled for February 1. Incidentally, it is the Marathi Manoos (The Marathi People) call of the Sena that had gained the party its prominence.
Veteran journalist and litterateur Arun Sadhu, who was recently elected president of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, too, had urged the Sena chief to exhort Marathis to speak in their own language.
In his statement, Thackeray says there was no objection to Hindi being deemed as the national language, but languages of the individual states also need to be respected.
Regarding Hindi, he notes that nowadays even Urdu words have “infiltrated” into Hindi language and “we have proudly accepted it”.
Thackeray laments that even Maharashtra ministers have their name plates made in English.
The Sena chief admits that his grand children are studying in English medium schools but “they have been asked to talk and read Marathi at home to preserve the culture”.
(With agency inputs)
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