Mumbai, February 27 Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday alleged that the BJP wants to establish Hindi language and culture as the dominant force in the country.
Speaking at a party event to mark 'Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Din' (Marathi Language Pride Day) here, Thackeray claimed that he fears the BJP will also "suppress" the national anthem because it contains references to all regions of the country.
"The BJP's policy is to suppress regional languages, traditions, and cultures in order to establish Hindi as the dominant language," said the former Maharashtra chief minister.
Thackeray claimed that the BJP wants to eliminate the Shiv Sena (UBT) because it knows that as long as this party exists, the 'Marathi people' will remain strong and proud.
Maharashtra needs a regional party, and that is the Shiv Sena (UBT), he asserted.
He criticized Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP, saying that no language should be forced upon people, referring to the three-language formula for students in classes 1-5 and making Hindi "mandatory". Last year, the government reversed its two controversial orders related to this.
On Thursday, Fadnavis had blamed the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government for accepting the Mashelkar Committee report, which recommended making Hindi a mandatory subject from Class 1.
"Since it was approved by the cabinet, the lower echelons of the bureaucracy issued the government resolution to this effect (making Hindi compulsory in primary schools) when we came to power," the CM had said.
Responding to this claim, Thackeray admitted that his government had accepted the Mashelkar committee report. However, he said that another committee was formed to assess whether it could be implemented, and before it could meet, his government was overthrown.
It was his government that made the use of Marathi compulsory in Maharashtra, Thackeray added.
The steps taken by his government to promote Marathi culture were halted by the subsequent governments, Thackeray said, adding that the Marathi Bhasha Bhavan has yet to be built.
How many times has the BJP taken to the streets for the cause of Marathi and Marathi people, he asked.
