Electoral battle brings issue of classical language status to Marathi to the fore

“Mumbai cannot be imagined without Marathi pride. I am personally committed to promote Marathi culture and popularise Marathi language, especially among the young generation. We will use the strength of technology for it and bring it to reality,” the PM said in his post.

Opposition Congress has already made the demand to accord classical language status to Marathi. “When Dr Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, and Odia were declared classical Indian languages,” said Jairam Ramesh, general secretary in charge of communications of Congress.

Slamming the BJP, he said, “For 10 years, the now outgoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done nothing on the well-argued case submitted by then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan, on July 11, 2014, to declare Marathi as a classical Indian language. The Indian National Congress pledges that Marathi will be declared a classical Indian language as soon as the INDIA government is formed.”

While the BJP has not yet announced the same, other political parties, including both factions of the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have been supporting the demand for the same.

The issue of according classical language status is with the Union home ministry. The committee under litterateur Rangnath Pathare had submitted its report, which concluded that Marathi language fulfills all the parameters to be recognised as classical language.

In 2020, the MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray moved a resolution to urge the Centre to accord classical language status to Marathi and it was passed unanimously by both the legislative houses. According to government sources, lack of pressure group in Delhi and political will is causing the Centre to not go ahead with the decision.

Despite the majority pushing for the classical language status, a group working for Marathi language has its reservations. “The issue is not how ancient Marathi language is, the issue is the future of Marathi in Maharashtra.

We are seeing closure of Marathi schools. Will classical language status stop that,” asked Dr Deepak Pawar, a Marathi language activist and head of Marathi Bhasha Kendra. “According this status is an easiest thing for politicians as it absolves them of any further responsibility towards conservation and promotion of language for future generations,” he said.