Those living in Maharashtra should know Marathi; Joshi’s remarks misconstrued: Bawankule

The Maharashtra governments policy on Marathi is clear, those living in the state should know and learn the language, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule told the legislative council on Thursday.He was speaking amid a row over senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshis comments that a person coming to Mumbai may not necessarily learn Marathi.

The Maharashtra government's policy on Marathi is clear, those living in the state should know and learn the language, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule told the legislative council on Thursday.

He was speaking amid a row over senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi's comments that a person coming to Mumbai may not necessarily learn Marathi. Bawankule said Joshi's statement was misconstrued. "The government policy is clear that whoever lives in Maharashtra should know Marathi and learn it. There is no compromise on the Marathi language," Bawankule said.

In a clarification on Thursday, Joshi said his remarks were misinterpreted, adding that Marathi is the language of Mumbai and Maharashtra.

In the legislative council, Bhai Jagtap of Congress said it was distressing that a responsible person from the RSS had made such remarks.

"Our resolve is to safeguard the Marathi language," he said and wondered if the government was encouraging such statements.

Shashikant Shinde of NCP (SP) sought to know if Joshi's remarks were a ploy to break Mumbai from Maharashtra and if anyone was encouraging it.

"Is there an agenda behind it? This is an insult to the Marathi language. There should be action for hurting the Marathi language. What strong steps is the government taking against those challenging Marathi," Shinde said. The Opposition leaders also said they were not satisfied with Bawankule's response and staged a walkout.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)