In the face of a language controversy in certain states, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday asserted that his party has been supportive of Indian languages all along and all these need to be given respect. There has been a long past of identification of Maratha people with Uttar Pradesh, he also added. Yadav's remarks came barely a few hours after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and cousin and MNS head Raj Thackeray shared a political stage for the first time after two decades on the issue of Marathi identity and "imposition" of the Hindi language.
The two spoke at a "victory" rally in Worli in Mumbai celebrating the roll back of the Hindi language decisions by the BJP-led government. Speaking to media persons here, Yadav opined that socialists have always been supportive of Indian languages.
"All Indian languages must be respected and we were always supportive of Hindi. Many things have become easy with technology. What happened in the past (job discrimination and many other things because of language) is no longer the case (nowadays). People want to take political mileage. For that reason, such issues are being raised," he said.
He further said that there has to be a budget for every Indian language in Uttar Pradesh, and maximum budget needs to be allocated so that it can be promoted but there should be no discrimination.
Also read: Akhilesh Yadav visits KGMU ahead of birthday
"We will declare that in Jayaprakash Narayan International Centre (JPNIC), one floor must be allotted for Marathi language, one for Tamil, one for Kannada and two floors for Urdu. So, whichever state wishes to have their language should also be encouraged here along with Hindi, and we must know about their culture, their customs and all that, their food, dress, for which they should provide a huge budget," he stated.
The SP chief further added that a very long history of Maratha people's association exists with Uttar Pradesh.
Stories and tales exist in Bithoor and Kanpur and of Rani Lakshmibai, he said, adding in Uttar Pradesh, a museum is being constructed in the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ji who had a Mughal museum.
"We never should accept this discrimination and insult. The Bharatiya Janata Party should respond to this, when they use Hindi and Hindu. They used to provide a slogan. Everything is incomplete without Hindi. We would claim that thousands of crores of rupees should be invested here. There should be programmes daily. Sometimes it will have to be Marathi, sometimes Tamil, sometimes anything else, Kannada, we will gain from it. Business will grow. People will know more about each other. Respect will grow," Yadav added.
Follow us
