Maharashtra’s Hindi Row Not Like Tamil Nadu’s, Says UBT Sena Sanjay Raut

A day after Raj and Uddhav Thackeray joined in a ‘victory rally’ to celebrate Maharashtra’s rollback on the three-language policy, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut clarifies that the Maharashtra government's decision on the three-language policy is very different from the Stalin-led protest against Hindi. 

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister took to X, saying, "The language rights struggle, waged generation after generation by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the people of Tamil Nadu to defeat Hindi imposition, has now transcended state boundaries and is swirling like a storm of protest in Maharashtra." Thus, aligning Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra together against Hindi language imposition. 

Stalin said, “The enthusiasm and powerful oratory of the victory rally held today in Mumbai under the leadership of brother #UddhavThackeray against Hindi imposition fills us with immense excitement.”

Disclosing to the press in Mumbai, Raut clarified the Thackeray brothers' stance compared to Tamil Nadu governments, saying, “ Their stand against the imposition of Hindi means they will not speak Hindi and neither let anyone speak Hindi. But that is not our stand in Maharashtra. We speak Hindi... Our stand is that the strictness for Hindi in primary schools will not be tolerated. Our fight is limited to this.”

He further emphasises that the Maharashtra government's objection is simply at the primary school level by adding, “ We haven't stopped anyone from speaking in Hindi because we have Hindi movies, Hindi theatre, and Hindi music here... Our fight is only against the imposition of Hindi in primary education." 

Raut made these comments to the press, according to The Indian Express, in response to Stalin’s tweets welcoming the Thackeray brothers' reunion and opposition to Hindi imposition.