Crime Today News
Though Maharashtra is officially a Marathi-speaking state, has a Marathi majority population, the state government does its business in that language, Marathi, suddenly took the centre stage. Of the three rival Senas, two – Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena – are actively promoting the language in diverse ways.. Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is quiet about it.
Raj Thackeray had asked during his annual speech to cadre that they should find out if the banks in the state were using Marathi in their functioning, including signage and indoor boards guiding customers. The cadre found a few banks and asked them to ensure the usage, but the interface between the bank officials and the cadre was rough. In one instance, one staff member was slapped.
There have been instances of party cadres demanding that non-Maharashtrians, generally migrants, were roughed up, and in a couple of cases, they talked back, saying they are comfortable in Hindi. This attitude is an irritant to Marathi-centric parties, like the Senas. The original or pre-split party founded by Bal Thackeray was a platform to secure and ensure the Marathi-speaking natives’ interests.
It so happens that Raj Thackeray asked his men to cease their campaign, and the same day, Uddhav Thackeray’s party announced a new campaign, ‘chalaa, Marathi boluya’, which in English is “come, let’s speak Marathi.” The tone is to encourage Marathi usage and not so much demanding that the language be spoken. Since Marathi is spoken by about a third or a tad more of Mumbai residents, non-Marathi and non-Sena parties had once demanded that Hindi be the official language of the city civic body.
The question is whether every Maharashtra resident should be compelled to speak or encouraged to speak Marathi. Marathi is less the trend among senior-level functionaries of pan-India institutions with which the common man encounters. Not all personnel working in them know or can use Marathi because they come from different parts of the country for short, say three to four years, because at some level of seniority, they are transferable.
Unlike IAS or IPS officers from other regions who are assigned to the cadre of the state they work in, the bank employees’ tenures may not be sufficiently long to rapidly learn the language of the region they are posted to. These officials know most of their working life will be in a given state and learn it. But functionaries of entities like the Railways or central government get by in Hindi.
A letter from Rajeev Tamhane, Chairman of Bank of Maharashtra Officers’ Association, made its way to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, pointing out that it was “not practical for every officer” to speak Marathi because such personnel come from diverse backgrounds and linguistic groups from across the country. He is right, though it runs counter to the feeling that Marathi is the identity of the Marathi manoos.
While he is right, it is also ironic because, going by his surname, Tamhane is possibly Maharashtrian. And yet he realised the practical difficulties in enforcing Marathi and spoke his mind. In his letter, quoted extensively in the Times of India, he called the activists “anti-national” indulging in criminal activity.” That took some courage because the traits of all Senas – there are three of them – are handedness.
Chief Minister Fadnavis, who has been asked by the Association to protect the personnel, has said, “It was not wrong to demand Marathi in Maharashtra,” but high-handedness would of course, invite the law to take its course. That is how a person who holds a constitutional position would speak, but he cannot allow a crisis to brew.
This emphasis on Marathi is not new. Bal Thackeray, his son, and nephew have been wanting that Marathi not get diluted and instilled pride in the language and linked it to Maharashtra state’s and its residents’ identity to the Marathi language. After all, the linguistic division of the country did underline a sub-nationalism based on language. Almost all Maharashtrians respond to that sentiment with pride.
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