We respect Marathi but not at the cost of Hindi: SP

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE: Amar Singh and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad speak on the political angle to the language war.

      

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Hours after MNS members slapped Maharashtra SP chief Abu Azmi inside the state Assembly when he tried to take his oath in Hindi, SP General Secretary Amar Singh says the party is ready to take on Raj Thackeray. In this Hindi versus Marathi battle, who is to blame for Maharashtra's shame? Amar Singh and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad debate on the issue.

CNN-IBN: Will you politicise this issue? Are you going to meet the violence inside the house with more violence outside it? You seem to have threatened MNS with more violence now?

Amar Singh: No, absolutely wrong. We don’t have so much muscle power. We are at the receiving end and have been mercilessly beaten by them (MNS). We are ready to take on their violence with our non-violence. But we will not tolerate this attitude. We love Marathi and have nothing against it. But at the same time Hindi is our mother tongue and the national language.

CNN-IBN: Point taken. But let us play the devil’s advocate. Was it not possible for Abu Azmi to say four lines in Marathi? It would have been a good way to reach out to the Marathi manoos. But you are playing your politics for your Hindi constituencies.

Amar Singh: First of all, Mumbai is known for Hindi movies. Will MNS stop Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan from producing Hindi movies?

CNN-IBN: That is fair enough. But what we are saying is that now both sides are provoking each other. This particular issue has now divided the state and the city in many ways.

Amar Singh: Why can’t Mr Raj Thackeray speak a line or two in Hindi? Why are you insisting that we should have spoken in Marathi? One of the MLAs of the Samajwadi Party knows Marathi so he did take his oath in that language. We are not against Marathi, otherwise we would have given direction to all our MLAs that they will have to take oath only in Hindi. But we have not done that.

Abu Azmi has also said that he is learning Marathi and he loves the language. I am also saying Jai Maharashtra because it is not a foreign land. It is part of our country. But just because we spoke in Hindi does not mean that we can be beaten or humiliated. And I blame the Congress for this.

CNN-IBN: The point made by Amar Singh is that the Congress-NCP must take responsibility for this incident. What is your response? You were silent when this was going on in the Assembly.

Jitendra Awhad: What happened today has put Maharashtra to shame. We were not silent spectators to what happened. You can see in the recordings that we jumped in the way to stop the riotous scene there. Whatever Amar Singh is saying… Mumbai is known for its culture so let’s not bring the film industry into all this. Let’s be politically correct that both are trying to please their constituencies. Both are playing games which are finally going to result in something that they will gain at the cost of Maharashtra.

CNN-IBN: So NCP and Congress will sit and watch both these parties playing political battles on the streets of Mumbai and Pune?