MNS protests against compulsory Hindi subject, says will not ‘allow’ distribution of textbooks

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) held a protest on Thursday at Jhansi Rani Laxmibai Chowk against the state government’s move to introduce Hindi as a compulsory subject in Marathi medium schools for children of Classes 1-5. Party workers burned copies of the government resolution released on April 16 and raised slogans saying ‘Hindu aahot, Hindi nahi’ (We are Hindus, but not Hindi).

MNS Pune vice-president Dhananjay Dalvi told The Indian Express, “The GR introducing Hindi as a compulsory subject is completely unacceptable to us as Marathi people. This is a move to strangle the neck of Marathi. We do not require Hindi or a three-language policy. No one had asked for Hindi, and it was not required. This is a move to do the ‘Hindikaran’ of the country by the Centre and the Maharashtra government is implementing it. This is for appeasement of North Indian voters.”

Dalvi added that the MNS would not let Hindi textbooks be printed or distributed in the city and that any school forcibly teaching Hindi would be ‘shut down’ by them. Previously, MNS chief Raj Thackeray wrote on X, “We will not allow the central government’s current Hindikaran efforts to succeed in this state. 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 first grade? Whatever your trilingual formula is, limit it to government affairs, do not bring it to education.”