Mumbai: Days after the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and his estranged cousin Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray announced that they would stage a massive protest on July 5 against the state government’s move to introduce Hindi as the third language in schools from class 1, the government on Monday scrapped the decision. It also announced the formation of a committee under former Mumbai University vice-chancellor and Planning Commission member Narendra Jadhav to recommend steps for implementation of the three-language formula in schools as per the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.
Addressing the media on Monday on the eve of the state legislature’s monsoon session, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the two government resolutions (GR) on introducing Hindi as the third language, issued on April 16 and June 17, had been scrapped.
“The decision has not been taken under pressure, but because policies of the state government are aimed at safeguarding the interests of students,” Fadnavis said. The committee headed by Jadhav will have members from the field of education and it will submit its report within three months after studying the report of Raghunath Mashelkar committee, the chief minister said.
The Mahayuti government’s U-turn on the contentious language policy came amid uproar among Marathi-speaking people in the state and pressure from its partners in the ruling alliance, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena.
The decision to scrap the two GRs was taken during a separate meeting held after the cabinet meeting on Sunday, sources told Hindustan Times.
During the meeting which lasted around 20 minutes, Shiv Sena ministers Sajay Shirsat and Dada Bhuse said the government should rethink the decision as public sentiment was completely against it, the sources said. The move may mar the ruling alliance’s prospects in the ensuing local body polls, the sources quoted them saying. Shiv Sena chief and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde said though they had been following the ‘alliance dharma’, Marathi pride was the soul of their party and they could not support the decision, the sources added.
Shinde’s counterpart, deputy chief minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, had already opposed the decision, saying Hindi should be introduced from class 5.
Fadnavis agreed to withdraw the GRs taking the sentiments of the two parties into consideration. Before announcing the decision to scrap the GRs, he said the move to introduce Hindi as a compulsory third language in schools was taken by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Uddhav Thackeray.
“The MVA government accepted the three-language formula on September 21, 2020 and a GR to that effect was issued on October 16, 2020. The government then constituted a committee under Raghunath Mashelkar which recommended that Hindi and English be made compulsory in schools.” Fadnavis said.
The 18-member committee, which included Shiv Sena (UBT) deputy leader Vijay Kadam, submitted its 101-page report on September 12, 2021 and the state cabinet under Thackeray accepted its recommendations on January 7, 2022, Fadnavis said, displaying a copy of the minutes of the cabinet meeting.
“The Mashelkar committee had recommended that Hindi be made compulsory in schools as it would help students excel in education and professional life,” Fadnavis said. The Mahayuti government issued the two GRs in April and June in pursuance with work done by a panel appointed by the MVA government to implement the Mashelkar committee report.
“We changed the decision to make Hindi mandatory and made it optional,” he noted. Students from Maharashtra would lose academic credits on account of not studying Hindi in school, placing them at a disadvantage compared to students from Gujarat or other states, the chief minister said.
Minutes after the announcement by the state government, the MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) said the protest march scheduled on July 5 had been cancelled.
“The decision taken by the government is due to pressure from the Marathi people who had decided to take out a huge protest march,” Uddhav Thackeray said in response to the government scrapping the GRs.
Though the protest march was cancelled, Shiv Sena (UBT) would celebrate the victory by holding a victory rally on July 5, Uddhav Thackeray said, inviting the MNS and other opposition parties to join the rally.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray said, “A new committee has now been constituted. But the Mahayuti government must bear in mind that irrespective of the committee’s report, we will not let this (introduction of Hindi from class 1) happen again in Maharashtra.”
When Fadnavis was asked about the possibility of Uddhav and Raj Thackeray joining hands for the rally on July 5, he said they only wanted to politicise the issue and their coming together would not have much impact.
“If the two Thackerays are coming together, I wish them good luck,” he said.
Deepak Pawar from the Marathi Abhyas Kendra, a civil society group leading efforts to stall the imposition of Hindi in schools, strongly criticised the government’s decision to appoint a fresh committee.
“Neither the NEP, nor the state education plan mentions any requirement for a third language,” Pawar said.
He also raised concerns about Jadhav heading the committee, saying it was inappropriate to appoint someone who was not an expert in child education to decide on such a crucial issue. The government set up the committee with the sole intention of getting a report that aligns with its predetermined agenda, he alleged.
