Hindi politics in the land of the Marathi manoos

The likelihood of the estranged political cousins, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, each leading a political party, coming together as associates in an electoral strategy or merging seems possible but it is Hindi that is bringing them on one platform to start with. Hitherto, Uddhav Thackeray was okay with Hindi-speaking residents of the state if they voted for his party; Raj has been the dead against bhaiyas (otherwise known as UP walas).

It is of note that Hindi has taken the center stage because the BJP-led central government has been keen on that language being taught in schools, and the state government headed by Devendra Fadnavis is a part of that central dispensation, the National Democratic Alliance. It is ironic that after the initial blowback, including from independent-minded academics, the state decided to water down the decision recently imposed.

Mandatory Hindi

It is apparent that Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar-Eknath Shinde saw the political risks of the continuation with mandatory Hindi in schools and announced that it would be only limited to familiarizing the children with it; no textbooks would be required and teachers taught how to go about it. It is difficult to recall if any decision was as quickly arrived at – to impose and then dilute it – as this one. The first was going along with the Centre and the second to wriggle out.

First, Hindi: It too has the same Devanagari script as Marathi and the school children rarely manage to deal with the other, English which is taught in a desultory manner and the students, even at the end of their decade of schooling, can barely manage to put together a set of words to make and speak a sentence. Hindi has been a tad better because, at least in cities and big towns, the Marathi population and migrants from the North intermingle. Marathi, of course, is the strong suit.

Need to learn Hindi and English

Unless the Marathi population bucks up with either Hindi or English or both, their employment opportunities outside the state are limited. Marathi is the state’s identity, its asmita, but not learning another well puts them at a disadvantage. There are a number of Maharashtrians needing jobs but not migrating out because of the handicap. Inward migration from other states has also put the locals out of reach of jobs and this issue has not been studied well yet.

Because Marathi is the state’s official language, bringing in another language is being seen by the political class as a burden, much like the view taken by Tamil Nadu. It says it just does not have the resources required. Maharashtra government has not made known the level of resources necessary to be deployed and it is hurtling towards a chasm of debt, its supplementary demand of Rs 57,509 crore within the first quarter of the year to run the state. All because the civic bodies’ elections are to be held within the next few months.

Now, the politics around the foxtrot on Hindi: Raj Thackeray, a fierier speaker than cousin Uddhav, could be an asset for the NDA during the civic polls and had supped briefly with them in the recent Assembly polls. He was initially an anti-Narendra Modi and then supported the three-party alliance seeking to get his son Amit Thackeray into the Assembly from Mahim. It did not work. But to have Raj in the rival grouping was a bigger risk because the cousins had, severally, worked for the Marathi manoos.

‘Let me see who else comes’

When Raj Thackeray stood up against what he describes as imposition of Hindi, and the choice being made for Maharashtra from Delhi, and announced a rally on July 5 against it, he made a cryptic and pregnant remark. “Let me see who else comes.” Now the official poster released by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) shows both Raj and Uddhav, leader of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), it is clear no one else would share the stage. That was a litmus test offered to other parties.

For all political parties, the major municipal bodies, like Mumbai’s, are in sight because the party that rules the metropolis, richest in the country but quite poorly managed, rules the city’s politics. Before Administrators replaced elected bodies across the state in 2022, BJP had come close to the undivided Shiv Sena’s strength and nurses hopes of replacing it. Raj against them would mean the Marathi voter may be lost and the Sena may lose the Hindi voters. The cousins Thackeray talk more about Marathi Manoos and see themselves as their sole advocates.