Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 6 (ANI): Amid an ongoing political row over the alleged 'imposition' of Hindi in Maharashtra's primary education, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut clarified that their party is not against the Hindi language, but opposes making it mandatory in primary schooling.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Raut said, 'The Southern states have been fighting for this issue for years. Their stand against the imposition of Hindi means they will not speak Hindi and neither let anyone speak Hindi. But that is not our stand in Maharashtra. We speak Hindi... Our stand is that the strictness for Hindi in primary schools will not be tolerated. Our fight is limited to this...'

'MK Stalin has congratulated us on this win of ours and said that he will learn from this. We wish him the best. But we haven't stopped anyone from speaking in Hindi because we have Hindi movies, Hindi theatre, and Hindi music here... Our fight is only against imposition of Hindi in primary education...,' the UBT leader added.

When asked about the reunion of Thackeray cousins (Uddhav and Raj Thackeray), Raut said, 'Yes, the two brothers have come together for politics, but what have they come together for?...'

On July 5, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) held a joint rally called 'Awaaz Marathicha' at Worli Dome in Mumbai. The event marked the first time in nearly twenty years that Uddhav and Raj Thackeray shared the stage. The rally came after the Maharashtra government scrapped two Government Resolutions (GRs) that aimed to introduce Hindi as a third compulsory language.

The now-withdrawn orders, related to the implementation of the three-language formula in state schools, had triggered widespread protests from Shiv Sena (UBT), MNS, and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction).

Following the rally, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde criticised Uddhav Thackeray for allegedly using the occasion for political gain rather than addressing the concerns of the Marathi-speaking population.

'There was a clear expectation that Uddhav Thackeray would apologise to the Marathi people for accepting the report mandating compulsory Hindi from Class 1 to 12. Instead, he turned the stage into a political battleground. He raised no relevant issue concerning the Marathi Manoos. Self-interest and the hunger for power were the only visible agendas,' Shinde said. (ANI)