Mumbai: Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik on Wednesday stated that one should refrain from engaging in “linguistic politics” while asserting that equal importance is given to non-Marathi speakers in the state.
His reaction comes after the state government mandated working knowledge of Marathi for all auto-rickshaw, taxi, and app-based cab drivers, while granting them a one-year extension to learn the language.
Speaking exclusively to IANS, Sarnaik emphasised that the language should be taught to the drivers with affection and not by using violence.
“Trying to achieve results through violence, intimidation, or brandishing sticks will only intimidate poor people and drive them away, while upsetting 98 per cent of the population. One shouldn’t engage in linguistic politics; rather, we should love, respect, and elevate Marathi identity. No one in this country has the right to force people through coercion, and we strongly oppose such methods.”
He said that 20,000 auto-rickshaw drivers across Borivali and Dahisar were felicitated after they learned the Marathi language and that another event will be held on September 12 to facilitate 7000 others.
While acknowledging that Marathi, Hindi, and English are equally spoken in the state, the Maharashtra Minister said: “If someone communicates with me in Hindi, I converse with them in the same language. We can frame rules for auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers; however, we cannot force an actor, a cricketer, or a random passerby to speak in Marathi. We can only request them to do so.”
“In my constituency itself, about 50 per cent are Hindi-speaking people; I share the same bond with them as with Marathis. Despite being Marathi leaders, we have created the ‘Uttar Bharatiya Bhawan’ and even Maithili Samaj Bhawan and Rajasthani Samaj Bhawan,” he said while stressing equal importance for all communities in the state.
He clarified that the issue of speaking in Marathi was raised not just for the language, but for the state’s identity and Marathi culture.
However, he maintained: “I don’t work for Hindi-speaking or Marathi-speaking votes; rather, I go to my constituency taking up the matter of development.”
Asserting that Maharashtra’s vote bank doesn’t belong to any particular party, Sarnaik stated: “Marathi voters are distributed across all parties. They are in Congress, in BJP, in Shiv Sena, in the UBT faction, in MNS, and in different factions of RPI as well.”
Sarnaik also spoke about the controversy over a viral video from a recent ‘Dahi Handi’ event in Mumbai.
The row erupted after the Minister asked actor Sanjay Dutt to speak in Marathi while attending a Dahi Handi event, to which the latter had replied: “I spent six years in Yerwada Jail, yet I could not learn Marathi.”
“Several guests, including Suniel Shetty, Sanjay Dutt, Suryakumar Yadav, and singer Badshah, attended the event. All of them spoke in Marathi. Sanjay Dutt greeted the audience in Marathi. Afterwards, he jokingly told me, ‘Pratap Bhai, I can only speak this much Marathi. I spent years in jail but couldn’t learn Marathi, yet you managed to make me speak it today.’ That should have been a matter of pride. But only the part where he said he couldn’t learn Marathi despite being in jail went viral.”
“Nobody highlighted Suniel Shetty saying that to live and work in Mumbai, one must learn Marathi because it’s a beautiful language. No one highlighted Suryakumar Yadav speaking in Marathi or Badshah singing a song in Marathi. Instead of focusing on those positive moments, only the clip of Sanjay Dutt talking about his jail time and how I made him speak Marathi was highlighted,” the minister claimed.
(IANS)
