Mumbai: Fuelling the language row further
in Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray-led MNS on Monday asked taxi drivers
from the Hindi-speaking states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to
be conversant in Marathi within 40 days or return to their
native homes.
As part of its 'Marathi manoos' agenda, activists of
the transport wing of MNS today hit the streets and
distributed Marathi alphabets books to taxi drivers asking
them to learn to speak the language fast.
"We have given Marathi alphabets books to 300 north
Indian taxi drivers in Kurla and set a 40-day deadline to
learn the language," Maharashtra Navnirman Vahtuk Sena
president Haji Arafat Sheikh said.
The outfit plans to distribute 50,000 Marathi books
among taxi and auto drivers who can't speak Marathi, Sheikh
said.
"It is very shocking that people earning here for more
than 15 years and cannot communicate in Marathi. They must
learn the language, else will book their tickets to Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar," Sheikh warned.
The MNS activists also put up hoardings in the city
asking north Indian drivers to learn the state language amid
reports that some drivers were asked to take an oath that they
would learn the language as early as possible.
Sheikh also criticised Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's
'u-turn' over making knowledge of Marathi compulsory for taxi
drivers in the state.
"The Chief Minister earlier made compulsory knowledge
of Marathi for taxi drivers and later he changed the decision
without consulting the cabinet," Sheikh said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 25, 2010, 19:38