Hindi row: Why Uddhav Sena has distanced itself from Stalin’s hardline stance – BMC in focus? | India News
NEW DELHI: Uddhav Thackeray and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray’s rare show of unity in Mumbai over the victory against “Hindi imposition” gave fresh vigour to Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, who hailed it as part of a “generational battle for linguistic rights” and extended support to fight Hindi dominance unitedly.However, Stalin’s fiery endorsement was quickly doused by the Uddhav Sena, which chose to distance itself from the DMK’s radical stand on the Hindi language.Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut drew a clear line between Maharashtra’s opposition to the Centre’s language policy and Tamil Nadu’s more hardline stance soon after Stalin urged for unity. Raut said that while Tamil Nadu rejects Hindi entirely, Maharashtra’s protest is specifically against the “imposition of Hindi” as a third language in primary schools, and not the language itself. “Our fight is not against Hindi, but against forcing it in schools,” the Thackeray loyalist told reporters in Mumbai.Despite being part of the opposition INDIA bloc and rooting its politics in regional identity, why has the Uddhav Sena distanced itself from Tamil Nadu’s DMK?The Uddhav Sena’s cautious approach appears driven by electoral dynamics and demographic compulsions that could impact Thackeray’s poll prospects — particularly in the long-pending Mumbai civic elections.Polls over pride?With local body elections likely later this year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has begun early moves to consolidate North Indian voters, especially in Mumbai, where the battle for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to intensify. The BJP is keen to dislodge the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) from India’s richest civic body.The BJP sees an opportunity to tap into a voter base that still remembers the attacks on North Indians in Mumbai at the hands of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) years ago — incidents that continue to shape political perceptions.Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, while reiterating pride in the Marathi language, also slammed those opposing Hindi, asserting that it is “also an Indian language.” His remarks come amid the language controversy sparked by the now-rolled-back policy on Hindi being made a compulsory third language in Maharashtra schools.The Mumbai Metropolitan Region, comprising 11 municipal corporations, has a substantial Hindi-speaking population from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh. It is also home to a strong and influential Gujarati voter base, especially in Mumbai and Thane.Meanwhile, in Solapur, BJP minister Girish Mahajan stoked internal rumblings within the opposition camp, claiming that many MLAs and MPs from Uddhav’s Sena (UBT) were in touch with him and lacked confidence in Thackeray’s leadership.“The results of the upcoming zilla parishad, panchayat samiti, and municipal elections will show how much public trust each leader holds,” Mahajan said.No Hindi vs Marathi, says Thackeray Jr.Sensing unease among voters in Mumbai ahead of the BMC polls, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray, who happens to be Uddhav Thackeray’s son, dismissed the ongoing language row in Maharashtra, saying there is no “Hindi vs Marathi in Maharashtra”.Speaking a day after the state government rolled back its contentious three-language policy, Aaditya said: “This controversy exists only on biased media or social media. There is no Hindi vs Marathi in Maharashtra. The real concern was the burden of three languages on standard 1 students. Why should the third language be Hindi?”
