Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 30 : BJP Mumbai President Ashish Shelar on Monday hit back at Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray amid MVA's protest against the three-language policy stating that the BJP has won the fight.
Speaking to reporters outside the Maharashtra Assembly, Shelar said, "In the true sense, the Mahayuti government, and Devendra Fadnavis maintained complete loyalty to the Marathi mind, Marathi language, and Marathi people. BJP did not make it a prestige issue."
He added, "Maharashtra won, 'Marathi Manus' (Marathi people) won, and I would say, BJP won in this fight."
Shelar claimed that the work towards the three-language policy began when Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
"Uddhav Thackeray made it a political issue. Uddhav Thackeray formed a group as the Chief Minister. Under the chairmanship of Mashelkar, in which Uddhav also put his own party's figure, in the form of Kadam. Therefore, it is clear that the UBT has a hand in it," Shelar told reporters.
He added, "The experts prepared the report and Uddhav Thackeray signed the minutes."
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Minister Uday Samant alleged that MVA is politicising the issue to make it a poll plank for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.
Uday Samant said, "There is no truth in the allegations made by the opposition parties because now the battle of ideology has begun. This controversy has been raised for the BMC election, and therefore, the slogan has become that M stands not for Marathi but for Municipal Corporation."
Maharashtra Minister Shambhuraj Desai also criticised Thackeray, saying he just wants sympathy from the Marathi community.
"When he (Uddhav Thackeray) was the CM, the Mashelkar Committee report came out, and it was their own government and their own cabinet that first accepted this report. They want to make an issue out of this topic to gain the sympathy of the Marathi community. All these matters will come up in the House. Uddhav Thackeray wants the credit for the new committee formed by the government, whose report is expected in the next three months. In the coming one or two days, we will make things crystal clear in the Assembly," Desai told ANI.
Earlier today Uddhav Thackeray celebrated the withdrawal of the three-language policy in the state stating that they had punched Marathi haters.
"We have punched Marathi haters; this unity should remain as it is. We appreciate the political parties that came together with us despite different stands. Temporarily, they (the Government) have cancelled the GR. If they hadn't cancelled, they would have seen the protest on 5th July. Many leaders from Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP are going to join us," Thackeray told reporters.
Mentioning the committee formed to look into the three-language policy, he said, "A new committee led by Dr Narendra Jadhav will report on this. The government has appointed financial experts for the education sector's decision. We will stage a victory rally on 5th July."
The Maharashtra government came under fire on April 16, as they passed a resolution which mandated Hindi as the compulsory third language in Marathi and English-medium schools.
However, in response to the backlash, the government revised the policy on June 17 through an amended resolution, stating, "Hindi will be the third language. For those who want to learn another language, at least 20 willing students are required."
On June 24, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that the final decision regarding the three-language formula will be taken only after discussions with litterateurs, language experts, political leaders, and all other concerned parties, which has now led to the cancellation of both the resolutions and the formation of a committee under Narendra Jadhav.