Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP-SP) chief Sharad Pawar has said he will participate in an agitation over Hindi language called by Thackeray brothers in Mumbai on July 6.
The government has decided to adopt the trilingual formula in schools in the state from class 1 onwards. Raj Thackeray-led MNS has strongly opposed the government decision.
Education Minister Dada Bhuse met Raj Thackeray today and tried to explain the government position. However, Thackeray made it clear that he did not accept the government position.
On the other hand, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has also taken the MNS side, saying he was not opposed to Hindi, but to the “imposition” of Hindi.
NCP supremo Pawar said Thackeray brothers’ words over Hindi language were not wrong. He said everybody agreed that Hindi should not be made compulsory in primary education, which is a “correct position”.
He said there was no problem in learning Hindi after the 5th standard. “A large section of the country speaks Hindi, so there is no reason to consider Hindi as a side language. But, how many languages can children absorb at a certain age? If an additional load of language is put on him, it will not be right,” he said.
Pawar said the state government should drop its insistence on Hindi language up to the 5th standard.
