Raj, Uddhav Hit Out at Hindi 'Imposition'; Pawar Seeks Protest

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Thursday announced protests against alleged attempts by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti government to impose Hindi on students of Maharashtra, as the ongoing language row intensified in the state.

- HT Correspondent

MUMBAI:

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar welcomed the decision taken by the Thackeray cousins, asserting that the state government should give up its insistence on making Hindi compulsory from class 1. It is good if the Marathi-speaking population unites over the matter, the veteran leader added.

Addressing a press conference, Uddhav Thackeray said his party was not opposed to Hindi but was against its imposition, and accused the BJP of trying to impose "language emergency" in the predominantly Marathi-speaking state. "The BJP is trying to create a divide among people on the basis of language. It is imposing a language emergency," the former chief minister alleged, terming the moves part of the BJP's "hidden agenda".