Mumbai, Feb 26 (IANS) The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (SS-UBT) on Thursday said as Maharashtra prepares to celebrate Marathi Language Day on Friday, a stark reality overshadows the festivities.
Despite the long-awaited ‘Classical Language’ (Abhijat) status granted to Marathi, the ground reality of the language’s educational and cultural infrastructure remains in a state of alarming decline. In a recent admission to the Legislative Assembly, Education Minister Dada Bhuse revealed that 255 Marathi-medium schools have shut down across the state.
The Thackeray camp in the party mouthpiece Saamana editorial claimed that the crisis appears to be deepening, with the Minister noting that approximately 2,000 additional Marathi schools are currently facing severe difficulties.
An estimated 25,000 teachers are projected to become surplus due to these closures. While the government attributes this trend to parents preferring English-medium “International” or “Convent” schools, the editorial said it was due to a lack of commitment within the administration itself. Questions have been raised regarding how many children of sitting ministers or high-ranking administrative officers actually attend Marathi-medium institutions.
“The government’s celebration of the ‘Classical Language’ status – complete with processions, resolutions, and extensive advertising – is a political exercise that has failed to yield tangible results.This status has remained only on paper for a year and a half. The development of Marathi culture hasn’t progressed ‘even an inch’. Furthermore, central assistance linked to this status reportedly remains stuck in administrative files,” said Thackeray camp.
The editorial highlighted a shifting geography in Mumbai, where Marathi cultural institutions, libraries, and sports gymkhanas are allegedly being encroached upon by non-Marathi developers. While Marathi schools are closing and the Marathi person lives a life of neglect in their own state, the government expects this pain and poverty to be forgotten just because Marathi was granted classical status, commented the editorial.
“There are growing fears that the “Geography of Mumbai” is being altered through redevelopment projects in traditional strongholds like Girgaon. Economic marginalisation is occurring as major state projects and contracts are frequently awarded to contractors from outside the state, despite local talent being available. Marathi is not being treated as a “language of industry,” which links its decline directly to issues of trade, employment, and the economy,” remarked the editorial.
While Minister for Marathi Language Conservation, Uday Samant, has proposed establishing “Centers of Excellence” for the language in India and abroad (including the UK), the Thackeray camp strongly argued the focus should remain on the home front.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led SS-UBT said that Marathi will only remain immortal if its schools are saved and if primary education in the mother tongue is made compulsory across all levels.
Until the language becomes synonymous with economic opportunity, the “classical” status remains a hollow victory for a population living as “neglected citizens” in their own state, it commented.
–IANS
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