'Official Marathi' tough to understand, govt working to simplify it: Uddhav

Conceding that many Marathi terms used in the official communication are nearly incomprehensible at times, the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Saturday (April 3) that the state government is working to make the “official Marathi” used  by the administration more simple and easier to understand.

Thackeray was speaking at the laying of the foundation stone for the main centre of the Marathi Bhasha Bhavan on the occasion of Gudhi Padva (Maharashtrian new year).

According to the CM, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was a strong advocate of Marathi in his administration. Moreover, Maharashtrians had to “fight and shed blood” to get Mumbai as capital of their state and added that those who forget history have no future.

He then went to point out that many Marathi terms deployed in official communication were difficult to comprehend. “Our government is working on simplifying it….Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj wanted our own language to be the medium of governance,” he said, according to news reports.

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Thackeray then went to assert that knowledge of English is vital but he would not tolerate “insult” to Marathi. Pointing out that there is no need to hate other languages, the CM said, there should not be encroachment by other languages too.

The Maharashtra government too spoke out against the atrocities committed against the Marathi-speaking population in Karnataka, and said that he will not tolerate it. Maharashtra has a long-standing border dispute with Karnataka.

Also, Thackeray, made it clear that by making Marathi compulsory in schools in the state or mandating Marathi signs for shops and businesses cannot be construed as an atrocity.