Now, Congress govt takes up ‘Marathi cause’

Seeking to gain an upper hand on the sensitive issue of giving primacy to Marathi and Maharashtrians in their home state...

Seeking to gain an upper hand on the sensitive issue of giving primacy to Marathi and Maharashtrians in their home state, the Congress-NCP Government on Thursday reaffirmed a law that makes it mandatory for businesses to have Marathi name boards. The state has given businesses three months to implement the proposal.

Although the Maharashtra Shops Act requires commercial establishments to display their names in Marathi as well, the law is not enforced strictly and is raised by Marathi groups and regional parties like the Shiv Sena or the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena from time to time, forcing the Government to talk tough.

The latest attempt by the Government came nearly three months after Raj Thackeray’s MNS took to the streets of Mumbai and neighbouring areas, clashing with migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

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Replying to a resolution by the Opposition in the Assembly on the issue of jobs for locals, Finance Minister Jayant Patil said the Government would ensure that an existing policy to hire at least 80 per cent locals in the private sector is implemented at the district and divisional level. But he qualified it by saying that locals meant those who had lived in the state for at least 15 years.

While the use of Marathi is compulsory in government offices and lower courts, the Minister said the Government would try and get lower courts to only use the state language. Similarly, shops, business establishments and airports were allowed to have name boards in three languages and Marathi should be one of them, he said.