Amid ongoing war of words over Maharashtra government’s decision to make Hindi compulsory as a third language, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said that his party will not allow making Hindi compulsory in the state

“We will not allow making Hindi compulsory in Maharashtra. There is no aversion to the Hindi language, but why it is being forced,” said Thackeray while addressing an event of the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena, the workers’ wing of the Shiv Sena (UBT).

The remark came after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray has also slammed the move, adding his party will oppose the decision vehemently and ensure that it is not implemented.

“I want to make it clear that MNS will not tolerate this decision. We will not allow the central government’s current efforts to ‘Hindi-fy’ everything, to succeed in this state,” Thackeray said in a post on X. 

“Hindi is not a national language. It is a state language like other languages in the country. Why should it be taught in Maharashtra from the very beginning? Whatever your trilingual formula is, limit it to government affairs, do not bring it to education,” he added

Just two days ago, Maharashtra Government decided that Hindi as a third language will be mandatory for students in classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools across the state, in a departure from the practice of studying two languages. 

The three-language formula for classes 1 to 5 is a part of the new curriculum implementation under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

 The state school education department has declared a phase-wise implementation plan of the new curriculum framework designed as per the NEP 2020 recommendations for school education.