Former Rajasthan Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot made a statement on the language dispute released in Maharashtra. He called for honoring every language and religion during the visit of Mumbai on Sunday (July 13). He emphasized that the quarrel over linguistic differences is unnecessary.

Ashok Gehlot’s remarks came after the ongoing controversy over the taught Hindi in schools in Maharashtra and many violent incidents related to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Recently, MNS workers were seen attacking non-Marathi speaking people for not talking in Marathi.

‘There is no harm in learning language’
The former CM told reporters, “Knowledge is power. There is no harm in learning any language. You should learn languages. There should be no restriction in terms of language. Some people know for five languages.”

‘Every language should be respected’
Recalling the changing social perspective, Ashok Gehlot said, “When we were young, we were also against English, but now the time has changed. In this new age, English has become necessary, so we are teaching English to our children. In such a situation it is wrong to quarrel over languages. People should respect every language and every religion.”

The dispute began when the Maharashtra government issued two government resolutions and later withdrawn them, in which it was proposed to make Hindi a third language in Marathi and English medium schools from class 1 to 5. There was a sharp response to the opposition to this move and regional organizations like MNS also protested. Apart from this, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress also criticized the government for imposing Hindi on the Marathi -speaking state.

Government canceled GR
At the same time, the Maharashtra government has canceled two government proposals (GR), in which Marathi and English medium schools demanded to implement Hindi as a compulsory third language.