Why do we feel close to English and not so close to Hindi? It is time to introspect: Devendra Fadnavis

Pune: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has raised a question. He said, “Marathi language is compulsory in schools in the State. Hindi is not mandatory. Hindi is not encroaching anywhere in the State. There will be options for Hindi language. But we are fascinated by English. I am surprised that we oppose Hindi, which is an Indian language. Why do we feel close to English and not so close to Hindi? We need to ponder over this.”

He was speaking at a function, where the Guinness World Record Certificate was handed over for a record number of prosthetics fitted to disabled persons.

Fadnavis said, “I have not read the letter written by the Chairman of the Language Advisory Committee. We have not made Hindi mandatory in place of Marathi. Marathi is mandatory. The New Education Policy gives an opportunity to learn three languages, which is mandatory. It is a rule that out of the three languages, two languages have to be Indian. Therefore, Marathi has been made mandatory. The second language will have to be chosen from Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, etc. Therefore, a report was submitted to the committee headed by the Minister. It is recommended that if the third language Hindi is made compulsory, we have an adequate number of teachers for the language.

“However, an option will be given to choose any language other than Hindi. There is no encroachment by Hindi. We will allow students to learn any Indian language other than Hindi. However, there will have to be at least 20 students interested to learn a language so that a separate teacher can be appointed. If 20 students are not available, then online classes can be held. We are considering that option too.”

‘The BJP is a democratic party’

Replying to a question, Fadnavis said, “Mandal presidents of the BJP have been appointed. Later, district, state presidents will be elected. We conduct democratic elections in the party. The entire party is elected in a democratic manner. This happens only in the BJP.”