The Devendra Fadnavis government of Maharashtra, days after making Hindi compulsory for primary classes, has backtracked amid strong objections from Opposition parties and Raj Thackeray's MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena).
"We have stayed the decision of making Hindi mandatory in the school as per the GR issued earlier in this regard," Dada Bhuse, the state's School Education Minister, said this evening.
The move comes days after the Maharashtra government's language consultation committee urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to revoke the decision.
Amid the stiff resistance, the writing on the wall was clear last week.
Two days after the government order making Hindi mandatory, Mr Fadnavis had said that only Marathi was compulsory in Maharashtra.
"Everyone should learn it. Additionally, if you wish to learn other languages, you can do so. If someone opposes Marathi, then it will not be tolerated," Mr Fadnavis had told reporters, while expressing surprise about the opposition to Hindi and promotion of English.
The massive resistance to the government move was spoken of in terms of "Hindi imposition" by Raj Thackeray, who had asked Maharashtra to emulate the example of south India, where Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK was spearheading the opposition against Hindi.
But on April 17, when the government order on mandatory Hindi came, his response was sharper.
"Whatever your trilingual formula is, limit it to government affairs, do not bring it to education," he said in a statement. The MNS, he added, "will not allow the Central government's current efforts to 'Hindi-ify' everything, to succeed in this state".
Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar demanded that the state government immediately withdraw the notification, saying forcibly imposing Hindi as a third language "is an injustice to Marathi and an attack on the identity of Marathi speakers".
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