Uddhav, Raj issue joint appeal, urge Marathis to join victory rally

On Tuesday, the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana said the joint victory rally would be held at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Worli

Mumbai: After declaring officially on Monday that they would hold a joint victory rally on July 5 to celebrate the state government’s decision of scrapping plans to introduce Hindi as a compulsory third language in primary schools, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday issued a joint statement urging the Marathi people to join the rally in large numbers.

Shiv Sena (UBT) workers protest against the imposition of Hindi in schools (Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times)

On Tuesday, the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana said the joint victory rally would be held at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Worli. Later in the day, the Thackeray cousins issued a joint statement which was shared on social media by their respective parties.

“Awaj Marathicha (Voice of Marathi), Marathi mother’s brothers, sisters…It’s you, the Marathi people, who brought the government to its knees! We were just fighting on your behalf. So while celebrating it, we are just organisers of this rally and you have to celebrate it. Come with cheer, We are waiting,” the statement signed by Uddhav and Raj Thackeray stated.

The rally will commence at 10 am on Saturday, July 5, the statement said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, while sharing the joint statement on social media, referred to the rally as an “awareness programme” that would put the enemies of Maharashtra and killers of Marathi on notice.

The Thackeray cousins had announced earlier that they would hold a joint protest rally on July 5 against the government’s efforts to introduce Hindi as a compulsory third language in schools from class 1. But on June 29, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government had scrapped the two government resolutions (GRs) regarding Hindi as a third language and also constituted a committee headed by Narendra Jadhav to prepare a report on implementing the three-language formula under the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. Subsequently, the Thackeray cousins said the rally on July 5 would be celebrated as a victory rally. They also reiterated their opposition to the three-language formula and said they would continue to oppose the introduction of Hindi in school irrespective of the recommendations of the committee.