(Eds: Adds quotes on Marathi Language Day) Mumbai, Feb 27 (PTI) Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Monday asked the people of the state to unite to popularise Marathi and make it a larger medium of communication.
Issuing a letter to mark Marathi Language Day, the MNS chief said all speakers of Marathi had to stand up for it and claimed his party had worked to have the language as a medium in business, administration and telecommunication.
The MNS has also put in efforts to ensure Marathi is granted the status of ‘Classical Language’ but this struggle needs the support of the people who speak it, Thackeray said in the letter.
“If all Maharashtrians unite, then it will not take even a minute to have Marathi everywhere,” he asserted.
Marathi Language Day is celebrated to honour the life and works of eminent poet, playwright, novelist and short story writer VV Shirwadkar, popular by his pen name ‘Kusumagraj, and immortalised for his contribution to the language in a five-decade career through masterpieces like ‘Vishakha’.
Meanwhile, Thackeray, in response to a query, said he does not read ‘Saamana’ and ‘Marmik’ anymore, both publications associated with his family and for which he has contributed earlier.
Saamana was the party mouthpiece of the undivided Shiv Sena and was started by late Bal Thackeray. It is now controlled by the Uddhav Thackeray faction since the party split in June last year after a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, who went on to become Maharashtra chief minister.
Marmik, a magazine dedicated to cartoons, was started by Bal Thackeray and his brother Shrikant, who is the father of the MNS chief. It was set up much before the establishment of the Shiv Sena in 1966.
Queried on whether he reads ‘Saamana’ or ‘Marmik’, the MNS chief replied in the negative though he added he gets the former at his residence.
“There is no news in newspapers these days. (Television news) channel cannot be watched,” he rued.
Recently, the Election Commission had declared the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv Sena and had given it the bow and arrow symbol.
While there has been talk of party assets and who would be the rightful claimant post the split and official recognition of one group, both the iconic Sena Bhavan in central Mumbai and the widely-read Saamana are under the control of the Uddhav Thackeray faction. PTI PR BNM BNM
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