Maharashtrians in UP slam anti-rajbhasha campaign

At a time when Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray is harping on rabid regionalism to trigger hatred against Hindi and Hindi-speaking people, a group of Marathi intellectuals and academicians is spreading the message of brotherhood and respect for the rajbhasha.

“Raj Thackeray’s campaign against Hindi is a major embarrassment for us,” Dr Ranjana Vaishampayan, who hails from Konkan and teaches Hindi at Lucknow University, says.
“We have never been discriminated against in UP [Uttar Pradesh] or anywhere [else] in north India… MNS is after cheap publicity,” Vaishampayan, who did her MA and PhD in Hindi from Banaras Hindu University, says.

Padmini Natu, a lecturer of Sanskrit at Nari Shiksha Niketan Post-Graduate College for Girls in Lucknow, agrees.

Referring to the “shameful” Abu Azmi episode in the Vidhan Sabha recently, she says: “Raj Thackeray’s campaign against Hindi should be treated as an anti-national activity. I want to ask MNS supporters, will they forego attractive job offers in UP or any other north Indian state? Can they tell Amitabh Bachchan to leave Mumbai? I am proud to be Marathi, but pride should not breed arrogance or regional chauvinism.”

Natu and Vaishampayan, mobilising opinion against linguistic hatred, may yet be voices in the wilderness, but they are getting steady support. “Hindi is our rajbhasha. Insulting it is equal to insulting the Tricolour or the nation itself,” AS Kumar, who teaches the language at Lucknow University, says.

Incidentally, Kumar hails from Tamil Nadu, which witnessed violent anti-Hindi protests in the ‘60s, when there was a move to declare it the national language. “All Indians are equal and there can be no linguistic discrimination,” he asserts.

Hindi and Marathi litterateurs and journalists have also started reacting strongly to the spread of anti-Hindi venom by Raj Thackeray and MNS.

“The economic development of Maharashtra is completely dependent on Hindi. Taking away Hindi will break the economic backbone of the state,” famous Marathi writer Ravindra Kaliya says.

Renowned Hindi author and editor of Hans magazine Rajendra Yadav reacts equally strongly as he says: “The episode in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha was shameful… people indulging in such acts should remember that it was a Marathi-speaking Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar who said only Hindi can be our national language… these views find mention in our Constitution.”

Senior journalist Arvind Chaturvedi says, “People like Raj Thackeray have perhaps forgotten that the most prestigious award in the Hindi film industry is in the name of Dadasaheb Phalke. Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle have become world-famous singing Hindi songs… the anti-Hindi campaign is nothing but madness.”

A retired officer from Maharashtra who has settled in Lucknow says: “It’s indeed a great relief that despite such strong feelings, there has been no similar reaction against Marathis anywhere in north India.”