Ajit supports 3-language policy, says Maha people must learn Hindi too

MAHARASHTRA Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar defended his government's decision to introduce Hindi as the third mandatory language in school and slammed the Opposition for creating an issue out of a non-issue.

- SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI @ Mumbai

Pawar said those opposing the state government's decision are raking up "unnecessary disputes due to a lack of real issues". He clarified in Pune, "Marathi is their mother tongue and will always have first preference in the state school syllabus. Opposition is unnecessarily creating the issue."

He said, "Some people are creating disputes over the Hindi language only because they have nothing else to do. English is widely used across the country; similarly, Hindi is spoken in many states. While there is a dispute over whether Hindi is the 'Rashtra Bhasha', I don't want to get into that."