Mumbai: Ahead of the Mumbai civic polls, which are expected to be held this year, the Maharashtra government, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, Wednesday inaugurated a first-of-its-kind international Marathi conference. The meet saw leaders of both parties vowing to preserve Marathi in Maharashtra’s capital city.
Addressing the conference, Deepak Kesarkar, minister in charge of the Marathi language department, said, “The aim is that Mumbai is the capital of Marathi language and the language should be preserved here. Today, our own children have started talking to us in Hindi. That needs to stop…We decided to have the event in Mumbai because Mumbai’s spirit is Marathi and we will never let Marathi be driven out of Mumbai. This is the firm belief of this government.”
The state government has invited people from various Indian states and abroad who have been working on the Marathi language to attend this three-day conference.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the conference was a step forward towards the ideology of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, whose primary political agenda revolved around Mumbai’s ‘Marathi manus’ (Marathi-speaking population).
CM Shinde, who broke away from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena last year and has claimed to be the true protector of Bal Thackeray’s legacy, said, “Hinduhruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray constantly worked towards ensuring that Marathi people live with respect in Mumbai. The Marathi manus should not go out of Mumbai.”
Leaders from the BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena also emphasised how Prime Minister Narendra Modi was committed to preserving Marathi by encouraging education in mother tongues.
Mumbai is considered to be the bastion of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) faction) and the city’s Marathi population has traditionally been the party’s strongest vote bank.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) ruled the Mumbai civic body for 25 years, until March last year when the term of the general body ended and an administrator took over its functioning. The BJP has been aggressively looking to unseat the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena from its home turf and had organised events such as ‘Marathi dandiya’ during the Navratri festival last year, and campaigns such as ‘Marathi katta,’ a platform to highlight the woes of Mumbai’s Marathi-speaking population.
Also read: Belagavi is a tightrope for BJP, high stakes on both sides of Karnataka-Maharashtra border
‘Marathi should be preserved in Mumbai’
The Shinde-led government is hosting 508 Marathi-speaking guests from countries such as the US, Canada, Japan, Brazil, UAE, Mauritius and Australia.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, while addressing the conference, said the invitees, representing each of the seven continents, are all people who have been working towards promoting the Marathi language in their respective nations, as well as Marathi-speaking industrialists who the state government is encouraging to invest in Maharashtra.
Fadnavis also said that PM Modi has always promoted regional languages by encouraging education in students’ mother tongues. “Maharashtra has taken this initiative and we are trying to provide all kinds of education, whether it is engineering or medical, in Marathi,” he added.
Other than the foreign delegates, over 800 people from different parts of India are attending the conference, while 1,500 residents of Maharashtra have also registered for it, Kesarkar said.
He also said, “Let people say whatever they want, but this is not a political stage…we want to conserve the Marathi and Hindu culture in Maharashtra.”
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has, however, criticised the state government’s efforts, saying it is organising a conference for Marathi language on one hand and on the other hand, constantly bowing before the Centre.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray, who represents the Worli constituency where the Maharashtra government has organised the conference, said, “They (the government) have organised a programme on Marathi language, but I have been constantly saying that this is a traitor government that makes Maharashtra bend in front of Delhi. Many scams have come out. The governor is constantly insulting great personalities (of the state), but still there is no action.”
The Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece, Saamana, in an article has also slammed the state government for keeping registrations for the Marathi event in the English language.
Also read: Promote Marathi in border areas: Shinde govt rolls out scheme as row with Karnataka rages on