NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader Supriya Sule on Saturday announced that her party would join the Shiv Sena (UBT) protest on July 5 against alleged Hindi imposition in Maharashtra, piling pressure on the BJP over the language row.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had on Friday announced that estranged cousins — Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, would come together for the first time in nearly two decades to oppose the BJP-led Maharashtra government’s decision to introduce Hindi as a third language in primary schools.

Uddhav and Raj plan to march on the streets of Mumbai on July 5 and hold a rally
in Azad Maidan to protest “Hindi imposition”.

Sule’s support would strengthen the protest, aimed at playing the emotive Marathi pride card to corner chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and other ruling Mahayuti allies ahead of the urban local body polls.

Sule, the four-term Lok Sabha MP, had been picked by the Modi government to lead one of the diplomatic delegations post Operation Sindoor. It was seen as a tactical move by the BJP to woo the key leader from Maharashtra to break Opposition unity.

“This is not political, but an important social issue for us. Language education is a matter to be taken very seriously. We should move forward with the guidance of experts. No other state is doing things the way they are being imposed here. I don’t understand why Maharashtra is taking such an insistent stance. We cannot spoil the future of children to please someone,” Sule told reporters in Nagpur on Saturday.

“The NCP (Sharad Pawar) will participate in this march with full force,” she added.

The Maharashtra Congress so far has not confirmed its participation, but the party has been firmly opposing the Hindi introduction policy of the Fadnavis government. “The Congress was the first to take a stand against the imposition of Hindi. Unity in diversity is India’s true strength, and we uphold this principle… We will ensure this decision is revoked,” Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said
on Friday.

Sapkal skipped a direct reply on the party’s participation in the protest but welcomed the move. “We welcome the protest march announced by other parties,” he said.

Sources said the Congress had reservations about the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s effort to turn the protest into a unity march of the estranged cousins, but could change their stand after NCP(SP)’s announcement. The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi comprises the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Congress-NCP combine.

Fadnavis firm

Fadnavis, insiders said, was firm on not caving in to pressure from the Thackeray cousins and other Opposition parties.

The BJP has decided to launch a counter-narrative to “expose the false campaign” being built by the Opposition, party insiders said. BJP leaders said the Thackeray cousins were “trying to forcibly provoke the people on the language issue, but their design won’t succeed”.

Fadnavis accused the Thackeray cousins of misleading the Marathi people. “Learning Marathi is compulsory but Hindi is optional,” Fadnavis said. He accused the previous Uddhav government of having accepted the policy of making Hindi mandatory.

Raut accused Fadnavis of making a false claim. “This is what they call it! Speak lies, but speak them with conviction!”