top of page

By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Unity within MVA suffers significant blow

CM Devendra Fadnavis' customary tea party on the eve of Assembly Session. | Pic: DGIPR Mumbai: The facade of unity within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has suffered a significant blow on the eve of the Maharashtra Legislature’s budget session. What was meant to be a show of strength against the Mahayuti government has instead exposed deep-seated mistrust and conflicting ambitions, primarily centered around the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The cracks were most visible during the customary...

Unity within MVA suffers significant blow

CM Devendra Fadnavis' customary tea party on the eve of Assembly Session. | Pic: DGIPR Mumbai: The facade of unity within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has suffered a significant blow on the eve of the Maharashtra Legislature’s budget session. What was meant to be a show of strength against the Mahayuti government has instead exposed deep-seated mistrust and conflicting ambitions, primarily centered around the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The cracks were most visible during the customary opposition press conference and the boycott of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s tea party, where leaders from Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) were conspicuously absent, signaling their exclusion from the alliance’s core decision-making process. The primary source of friction is the lone Rajya Sabha seat that the MVA can mathematically secure with its combined strength of roughly 50 MLAs. Sources reveal that Uddhav Thackeray has been in direct, exclusive contact with the Congress high command in Delhi to negotiate the candidacy, reportedly keeping the Sharad Pawar faction entirely out of the loop. This exclusion has sparked rumors of a shifting power dynamic within the MVA, where the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress appear to be forming a "primary bloc," leaving the veteran Pawar to navigate the political waters independently. Adding to the internal turmoil is a sharp public disagreement within the Shiv Sena (UBT) itself. While party spokesperson Sanjay Raut has publicly advocated for giving Sharad Pawar another term in the Rajya Sabha as a gesture of alliance solidarity, he has been met with stiff resistance from within his own camp. Former minister Aaditya Thackeray has countered this stance by citing the cold arithmetic of the assembly. Aaditya argued that based on current numbers—where the Sena (UBT) holds 20 seats compared to the NCP (SP)’s 10—the claim to the seat naturally belongs to the Thackeray faction. He further remarked that Raut requires a more aggressive "companion" in the Upper House to sustain the party's offensive against the central government, hinting that the seat should go to a loyalist rather than an ally. The timing of this internal rift is particularly delicate as Sharad Pawar struggles with health issues. The 85-year-old leader was admitted to Pune’s Ruby Hall Clinic for the second time in a fortnight on Sunday, suffering from mild dehydration and fatigue. His hospitalization has cast a shadow of uncertainty over his own plans for re-election, even as his allies debate whether to support him or field their own candidates. The broader political landscape further complicates the MVA's predicament. With the Mahayuti alliance—comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and the NCP—holding a dominant majority, they are expected to sweep six of the seven Rajya Sabha seats. The MVA’s inability to settle on a single candidate for the seventh seat not only threatens their chances of an unopposed victory but also provides the ruling coalition with an opportunity to exploit these growing divisions. As the budget session begins, the MVA faces the daunting task of proving that it is still a cohesive unit, or risk entering the 2026 electoral cycle as a house divided.

Lingua Pragmatica

Updated: Mar 20, 2025

As Southern leaders like M.K. Stalin rage against Hindi, Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu offers a model of pragmatism over parochialism.

Chandrababu Naidu
Andhra Pradesh

Amid the cacophony of opposition in southern states to Hindi, Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu has taken a markedly pragmatic stance by remarking recently in the state Assembly that there was no harm in learning other languages. Hindi, Naidu noted, was useful for communication across India, particularly in political and commercial hubs like Delhi. His remarks, though avoiding explicit mention of the NEP, were widely seen as an endorsement of multilingualism and a rebuke to the linguistic chauvinism that has gripped parts of the South.


Few issues in India stir political passions quite like language. It is not merely a means of communication but a marker of identity, a relic of colonial resistance, and a source of political mobilization. In the southern states, where anti-Hindi sentiment has long been entrenched, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its three-language formula have reignited old tensions. No state embodies this defiance more than Tamil Nadu, where the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by M.K. Stalin has framed the policy as an assault on its linguistic autonomy.


Naidu’s words, welcomed by his ally and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, mark a sharp contrast with the DMK’s position. Tamil Nadu’s hostility towards Hindi dates back to the 1930s, when C. Rajagopalachari’s attempt to introduce it in schools met with fierce resistance. The anti-Hindi agitations of the 1960s cemented the DMK’s ideological stance, with its first Chief Minister, C.N. Annadurai, famously warning that Hindi imposition could push Tamil Nadu towards secession.


The question, however, is whether this rigid opposition serves Tamil Nadu’s interests. While Stalin, with an eye to the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, has been relentlessly portraying Hindi as a threat to his state’s regional identity, Naidu, a partner of the BJP-led Centre, is framing it as a tool for economic mobility. His argument is not that Hindi should replace Telugu or English but that it offers a competitive advantage.


The economic case for multilingualism is compelling. Indians who speak multiple languages tend to have better job prospects, higher earnings and greater geographic mobility. Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu-speaking diaspora is a case in point. Telugus make up a significant proportion of Indian-origin professionals in the United States, the Gulf, and Southeast Asia as Naidu pointed out, hinting that this success story was built not on linguistic rigidity but on adaptability.


In a country where inter-state migration is rising and where Hindi remains the most widely spoken language, refusing to learn it amounts to self-imposed isolation. Tamil Nadu’s approach, by contrast, risks limiting its youth. The DMK government has refused to implement the three-language policy, keeping schools strictly bilingual with Tamil and English. Its justification that Hindi is not necessary for global success could be true in a narrow sense but ignores the domestic context. If Tamil filmmakers can dub their movies into Hindi to expand their audience, why should Tamil students be denied access to the language that could open more doors for them within India?


The DMK has accused successive central governments, particularly under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of pushing Hindi at the expense of regional languages. Yet, rejecting Hindi outright is an overcorrection. The reality is that Hindi is an important language in India’s economic and political landscape. Naidu’s position, one of accommodation rather than confrontation, offers a middle ground that other Southern leaders would do well to consider.


Some states already recognize this. Karnataka, despite its own history of linguistic pride, has allowed Hindi to be taught as an optional language. Kerala, whose migrants work in Hindi-speaking regions and the Gulf, has been less hostile to Hindi education. Naidu’s model, balancing regional identity with practical necessity, offers a way forward. Languages should be embraced, not politicized. Southern leaders would do well to listen to him.

Comments

bottom of page