Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has criticised political parties for opposing the move to make Hindi a mandatory third language for students in classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools across the state.He said those opposing the decision are raking up “unnecessary disputes for lack of real issues”.
“Marathi is our mother tongue and will always have first preference in the state,” said Pawar on the sidelines of the inauguration of a national memorial dedicated to the Chapekar Brothers in Pimpri Chinchwad on Friday.
Hitting out at critics, Pawar said, “Some people are creating disputes over the Hindi language only because they have nothing else to do. English is widely used across the country, and similarly, Hindi is spoken in many states. While there is a dispute over whether Hindi is the ‘Rashtra Bhasha’, I don’t want to get into that.”
