MUMBAI: BJP's Kripashankar Singh has urged Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to introduce Marathi as an optional language in secondary and higher secondary schools in the state. This, he said, would help those coming to Maharashtra in search of employment get better jobs.
A former Congress minister, Singh hails from Uttar Pradesh. His letter is clearly aimed at the north Indian community in the state whom BJP is wooing for the civic elections, particularly the BMC elections. Mumbai has a large north-Indian population. Significantly, the Shiv Sena-controlled BMC runs schools which provide education in 11 languages. It is the only civic corporation in the country to do so, even though the Sena has always made Marathi an emotive issue.
In his letter to Adityanath, he said, "...I (have) noticed that when students come to Maharashtra they face a number of problems" due to lack of knowledge of Marathi. He said, "...there are many vacancies of state government or corporations that require knowledge of Marathi language." Singh's letter said he has maintained ties with UP especially in Poorvanchal. He said over the last 50 years, a big chunk of students clearing their secondary and higher secondary examinations had migrated to Maharashtra for jobs.
Congress' Sachin Sawant said Singh's letter is a confession by BJP that the Adityanath government has failed miserably in generating employment for UP and is dependent on Maharashtra as a source of jobs. "The same Adityanath blamed Maharashtra for ill-treating migrants while his own government was responsible for the same. In an attempt to catch attention of the north Indian voters in Mumbai as the BMC elections are imminent, @BJMumbai has exposed itself and also the incompetency of its own govt in UP," he tweeted.
