Estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray will lead a united protest against the BJP-led Maharashtra government’s decision to introduce Hindi as a third language in primary schools, a leader of Uddhav’s faction of the Shiv Sena announced on Friday.
“Jai Maharashtra! There will be a single and united march against compulsory Hindi in Maharashtra schools. Thackeray is the brand!” Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena (UBT) posted on X.
A day earlier, Uddhav and Raj, leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), had announced separate protests.
The joint protest in Mumbai, against “Hindi imposition”, is scheduled for July 5.
If the protest indeed comes off, it will bring the cousins together after nearly two decades.
Raj – nephew of Shiv Sena founder and Uddhav’s father Bal Thackeray — had left the party in late 2005, feeling sidelined at a time Uddhav’s star was rising in the organisation. But the MNS has seen itspolitical fortunes dwindle in recent years.
Raut told reporters he had received a phone call from Raj proposing a united protest.
“When we were speaking at the press conference on Thursday, we were not aware of Raj’s protest,” he said.
“After the press conference, he called me and proposed that it would not be appropriate to have two separate protests for the cause ofMarathi, and that it should be held jointly.”
Raut said Uddhav had promptly accepted the proposal for a joint protest.
Uddhav and Raj have found themselves pushed to the political margins following the rise of the BJP and the split in the erstwhile Shiv Sena in 2022. The Thackeray family, which once dominated the country’s economic capital of Mumbai, has been struggling to remain relevant.
Now the cousins seem to be planning to use the language controversy to bounce back politically.
If the “Hindi imposition” protest gains traction in Mumbai, it could pose political challenges for the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government ahead of urban body polls in the state.
Just when the language controversy is simmering in Maharashtra, Union home minister Amit Shah has added fuel to the fire by shaming the use of English – a stand seen as indirect promotion of Hindi as a pan-Indian link language.
Early this year, the Fadnavis government had issued a circular that made Hindi a “mandatory” third language at primary schools — only to be forced to withdraw it following a political backlash.
Last week, it issued a fresh circular saying Hindi would be taught as a “general” but not a mandatory third language at primary schools.
The Thackeray cousins have opposed this latest decision, too, arguing it’s wrong to foist the north Indian language on a Marathi-speaking state.
The Fadnavis government’s attempt to teach Hindi is part of the central government’s three-language policy for schools, which some southern states such as Tamil Nadu has opposed on the grounds of “Hindi impostition”.