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‘Say we are trying to learn’: Ajit Pawar speaks out amid assault cases over Marathi row
Ajit Pawar called for caution over 'Marathi row', suggesting that those who don't know Marathi should tell "that they are trying to learn the language."
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday weighed in on the ongoing language row in the state, amid a spate of assaults against non-Marathi-speaking migrants for not speaking the language.
Pawar urged caution on the issue, suggesting that those unfamiliar with Marathi should convey that they are making efforts to learn it.
The remarks come even as an attendant at a Nanded bus stop was reportedly assaulted by MNS workers for ‘not speaking in Marathi.’
“There are people who live in Maharashtra but don’t speak Marathi fluently. Still, they should say, ‘We respect the language. Our mother tongue may be Hindi or English, but we are trying to learn Marathi.’ Even saying this much can help avoid trouble,” Pawar told reporters.
“But sometimes people react by saying, ‘I won’t speak,’ and that approach doesn’t work. One should also consider the views of locals,” he added.
Pawar's statement comes amid a language row in Maharashtra with some opposition parties resisting the "imposition of Hindi" in the state. Recently, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers have been involved in several incidents where non-Marathi Hindi speakers have been assaulted for not speaking in Marathi.
In Nanded, the attendant was assaulted by MNS workers, who punched and slapped him for allegedly insulting the Marathi language. In a separate incident, MNS workers forcibly removed Gujarati signboards of several hotels along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in Thane and Palghar districts on Thursday, demanding Marathi signage.
Speaking on the language row, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that a language cannot be a means of discord and a Marathi person can never be narrow-minded on such issues.
"Language is a means of communication, but never of discord. Mother tongue is important. Every Marathi person is proud of the Marathi language. Insistence on Marathi is natural and justified, but we should also respect other Indian languages," Fadnavis said while speaking at JNU in New Delhi.
