Sharad Pawar’s reaction after the Center declared Marathi as a classical language, ‘The decision is a little late but…’ Mint

As the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved granting classical language status to five languages ​​among Marathi, NCP-SCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said the Centre’s decision came “a little late”.

As per ANI report, Pawar said, “Five languages ​​have been given the status of distinct languages ​​and Marathi is one of them. This is very important for Marathi language and other languages ​​which have got the status of distinct language. Everyone made efforts to give Marathi language the status of a distinct language.”

This decision was taken in the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Pawar further said that this decision has been taken a little late but the important thing is that this decision has been taken and it will have many benefits in the promotion and development of Marathi language. He said, “I thank the central government for this.”

Earlier on Thursday, the government said classical languages ​​serve as custodians of India’s deep and ancient cultural heritage, summarizing the historical and cultural milestones of each community.

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“This is a historic decision and it aligns very well with the philosophy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government to be proud of our culture, to be proud of our heritage and to be proud of all the Indian languages ​​and the rich heritage that we have. Is.” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said at the cabinet briefing.

Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut said, “It is a matter of great honor that Marathi has been given the status of classical language. This honor has been given to 5 languages ​​– Bengali, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit and Assamese. For years there was a demand that Marathi language should be given this honour.

He said, “Leaders of almost all parties in the state and every Chief Minister and every state government for the last 30-35 years have demanded this. If this has happened, then everyone has contributed to it, not any one person…BJP has a habit of taking credit for everything.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “I am happy to know that along with Assamese, Bengali has been recognized as a classical language by the Union Cabinet yesterday. Over the years, Bengali, spoken by millions of people around the world, has inspired many personalities and played an important role in the history of India. As a language spoken by many people in Assam, it is double happiness for us to see both Assamese and Bengali recognized as classical languages ​​on the same day.

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Earlier, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that this was a long-standing demand.

In a video message, Deputy CM Fadnavis said, “I express my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the entire Union Cabinet for accepting our long-standing demand of granting classical language status to Marathi language.”

He recalled pursuing this issue during his tenure as Chief Minister of the state and pointed out how the current Eknath Shinde-led NDA government in Maharashtra had made significant efforts in this regard.

“From today, our Marathi language will be recognized as a distinct language. This is a day written in golden letters. Prime Minister Modi ji, thank you very much. Even when I was the Chief Minister, and now under the leadership of Chief Minister Shinde ji, the Maharashtra government consistently acted on this issue, provided sufficient evidence and today all that evidence has been accepted. Marathi has now acquired the status of a classical language,” the Deputy CM said.

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On 12 October 2004, the Government of India decided to create a new category of languages ​​as “classical languages”, declaring Tamil a classical language and setting criteria for the status.

These criteria were – the high antiquity of its early texts or a recorded history of more than a thousand years, an ancient literature or a body of texts that is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers, and the literary tradition must be original and Must not be borrowed from other speech communities. ,

Later Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Oriya were given the status of classical languages.

(with inputs from agencies)